Paper Airplane
by Phantom on Fanfiction
Summary: Rin Kagamine is a sick little thing. Being born with a rare and new condition, she's lived in the hospital her father works at her entire life.On her 14th birthday, she walks around a little father than she usual did and stopped to rest. Shortly after, a paper plane flies over her head and lands next to her. Rin turns around and meets... Him. Story based on "Paper Plane & Prisoner"
1. IntroPrologue

There is one thing that cannot be avoided. One thing that will forever be pushed forward, no matter what one does. They can do what they want to avoid it, but it will not matter. For time is with it. We all come to the same end. Some just reach it faster than they hope. People like Renka Kagamine. She had a strange, rare, and new type of illness. It was one that no doctor, not even the specialists, could figure out. They had insisted that she stayed at the hospital for examination, so that she might be cured. So that she might live a life with no worry. But Renka was a stubborn woman. She didn't want any chemicals or any doctor looking inside of her. After all... She wasn't alone.

27 year old Renka Kagamine, the wife of 28 year old Lento Kagamine, was three months pregnant. When the joyous day arrived, everything went from pure joy to pure depression. 27 year old Renka Kagamine held her newborn child in her arms as she slowly drifted to her fate... Until finally, she was gone. Leaving nothing but the child and a gentle smile on her face behind.

28 year old Lento Kagamine forever hated himself from that day forward. For he was a doctor. One that couldn't save Renka due to his weak will power. Lento believe that he had taken the wrong side. He had supported his wife's dissension rather than convince her to be exanimated. In the end, the doctors said the illness was like a combination of leukemia, and a heart defect. They never found out how she got it, its symptoms, or what it truly was. Some doctors sighed in relief after the death of Renka Kagamine. Thinking that the newly found illness was gone with her. It never occured to them... That new... Could also stay behind.

The newly born child... Was diagnosed with the same disease. Everyone was shocked and terrified. The doctors felt as if they had been hit with a silver bat- their heads flying into a home run.

But no one was more shocked and hurt than Lento Kagamine. For, once again; he had taken the wrong side. Despite the despair of his wife's death, he had sighed with relief as well with the other doctors. Thinking that he could fill the child with loving memories he had of his wife. But it doesn't work that way. All of these emotions of self-hatred and sadness stirred up inside him, creating a new Lento Kagamine. A Lento Kagamine that was strong willed, strict, intimidating, untrustworthy of others, and only did things his way. He decided to have the child live in the hospital, determined to cure the illness. In a way, all the doctors feared the child. What if they never cure the illness? What will happen to their own reputation and the hospital if word gets out? What will happen if... The child dies? Having no answer, the doctors eventually decided to let time be the judge and do what they can during it. But nothing can be so wonderful for long. Shortly after, some doctors stopped caring about the whole incident and returned to their other patients. Patients that they _knew_ what to do in order to save them. Just when Lento was to collapse from betrayal, his close friends had stayed behind and kept focusing on doing research alongside with him. The newly born child had a life in front of it. No one will know what the child will have to encounter. And that child is... Me. Rin Kagamine, daughter of the deceased Renka Kagamine, and daughter of Lento Kagamine.


	2. This life of mine

I opened my eyes. The first thing I see after having a pleasant dream, is a flying piece of paper...? I blinked a few times to help my eyes focus on it. It wasn't flying; the paper was attached to a thin line of string that is the gray ceiling. As I squinted at the paper, I realized that there was writing on it. On the paper it said, "H.B.R." Still groggy from my sleep I didn't recognize what the three letters meant. After a moment of nothing but the ticking of a clock and the beeping of the heart monitor, I remembered.

Today... Is my birthday. And it is also the 14th anniversary of my mother's death. The "H.B.R" stood for "Happy Birthday Rin." I had placed the note there last night just before I went to bed. I knew that nobody would say those words to me because they would be focused on the memory of my mother's death. I know myself too well. A part of me was happy that I had lived another year. But another part of me was frustrated that I would have to follow more rules. I glanced over to the clock that was right above the door. It was seven in the morning. I sat up and rubbed my eyes while yawning. I turned me head and looked at the window, which was covered with thick white curtains as usual. It looked like the weather will be a nice one today. The only way I was able to determine that, or anyone for that matter, was through the light that came out of the bottom of the curtains. My room was number 302, directly to the left of the nurses' station on the third floor. It's the second biggest room in the entire hospital. I would have been assigned to the biggest room available, but that room is the delivery room. I'm happy with the room I have. It's more than I could ever ask for. There is more furniture here compared to the other standard hospital rooms.

There's a small leather couch over in the left of the room, almost right next to where the door is. About ten or so feet away from the couch is a fifty inch flat screen TV held by a white marble stand, which faced towards me and the bed in the middle of the room. To the right of the bed is a small wooden night stand where healthy Stephanotis, Black-Eyed Susan's, and Yarrow's stood in a narrow, elegant white vase with a blue trim at the top. I was the one who picked out the vase. It's my favorite thing in the entire room. The room has only two windows, one that's right next to the night stand and the other that is on the door. It's a nice room over all; I just wish I didn't have so much. I shouldn't be the only one who gets all the nice stuff. There are other kids in this hospital. In fact, I wish I didn't have any of these extra furniture. I would trade it all for nothing more than a different colored room and a simple chair next to my bed, with the vase of flowers on the window sill.

Because of the gray colored walls and ceiling, the room doesn't feel welcoming. When you enter, the room seem sad and cold. The first thing you see is the window and it's curtains, which makes you look at the color of the wall. The moment you do, all of the furniture vanishes as if was covered by an invisible cloak.

I don't ask for much. All I want is a beautiful sky pattern on the ceiling. That way, when I wake up I'll feel as if I was in a meadow; filled with all of my favorite flowers. Yellow carnations, cosmos, Iris's, jasmines, Lilly's, orchids, and white roses. And it doesn't even have to be a sky pattern! The room could be colored a bright yellow or something, so the room would feel at least a _little_ bit welcoming. But of course, no one really can get what they want. The nurses say that it would be too expensive to get a professional painter and that they wouldn't have any room to put me in while the room was being painted.

I don't like using such vague language, but that is complete bogus. There's a room right next door that hasn't been used in 4 years. And this hospital is the biggest and most recommended one in the state, so it gets a lot more money than the other hospitals do. I wonder if these people have no common sense what-so-ever while the medical part of their brain is bigger than their head. Everyone here are miracle workers.

I sighed, getting upset at the thought of never having my little wish come true. Right as I did, my stomach growled. I looked over to the clock again. It was seven twenty-five. Gu-chan was late. Right as the clock strike seven twenty-six, Gu-chan opens the door, carrying a tray with food on it. But it seems that she had more than just the food for me. She had a smile on her face. And not just any smile, the _victory_ smile.

"Good Morning Miss Rin!" she said as she walks towards me. No... More like _sang_ as she walked toward me. I'm not an expert on human emotions, but I'm pretty sure that anyone, even a child could tell that she was happy. Instead of walking, she was practically skipping! Making the food on the tray shake and bounce in sync with her.

"Good morning Gu-chan." I said. "You seem quite... Chipper, this morning."

"Oh you caught on that?! Oh dear, I'm so embarrassed!" She replied with a high voice and crimson cheeks.

"Well... Anyone can tell that you are happy about something. It's not every day that I see you skipping."

"You're such a smart girl Miss!" She giggled.

Gu-chan is my personal nurse. All of her previous patients got dumped on to someone else once she was told to take care of me. She is... very _unique_. She never wears a name tag when I see her, so I don't really know her name. She says I can call her "Gugu" but... That's mostly used from babies. So I just call her "Gu-chan." She has pretty beautiful hair that matches with her eyes. They remind me of fresh grass being watered on a hot summer day and little water droplets still hanging from the tips. But they also looked like a pair of shining emeralds. She likes to wear goggles on her head instead of a nurse hat like the others. I think she's somewhere in her twenties, (but I don't really know her real age) and acts like a teenager. Always giggling and smiling, and using words such as "Omg," or "KK." I think her favorite is either "Lol" or "Wtf," I'm not entirely sure. I don't know what they mean. I'd ask her but... I'm a little frightened of what would happen if I do...

As Gu-chan places the tray on my lap, I looked at the food that was so gracefully presented to me. It was the usual breakfast. A rice omelet with ketchup laid on top of a fine china plate. The ketchup had a zig-zaged design, going from one side to the other. On one corner of the tray, a glass of milk (that was sort of room temperature), was presented in a elegant flower designed tea cup which sat perfectly on a small plate, both made from England. Next to the tea cup was a packet of honey and a dainty spoon that matched the cup and plate. On the other corner of the tray, is two pieces of toasted bread laying on top of each other; the top one at a 45 degree angle to the right. On the bread was a perfectly squared thin piece of butter that was beginning to melt from the heat of the bread, making it easy to spread with a small knife that laid right next to the plate.

I saw the exact meal on a magazine when I was ten. It just popped out of no where when I was browsing through the flower section. I told Gu-chan that the meal looked just as lovely as the women did. I was amazed at how something so simple like a meal could look so elegant. Gu-chan had never seen me so happy before. The next day she made me the exact same breakfast that was on the magazine. The grade of the food was a C instead of an A like the one shown in the picture, but just smelling the freshly cooked egg and rice, crisp bread and salted butter... It could make anyone or anything drool like a waterfall. When I told her that I loved it, she began to use her own money that she had saved up for a while to purchase the same chinaware that was used. Ever since then, I have been doing everything I could to repay her for her kindness.

After admiring the display, I grabbed a hair tie that was lying on my nightstand and put my short blonde hair into a ponytail. I opened the honey packet and squeezed the sweet goo right into my cup of milk. When I started to stir the milk and newly added honey, Gu-chan began my daily check ups.

"How are you feeling Miss? Anything new?" she asked.

I tapped the spoon gently on the rim of the cup and replied, "No, I feel the same." I took the fork and sliced a small portion of the rice omelet.

"KK. Were you comfortable when sleeping? Nothing ached as you slept?"

"No, I feel the same. However, I still prefer to have the ceiling changed." I took a bite of the omelet.

"Lol! It's not going to happen Miss. Anyway, did you feel faint or lightheaded when you woke up?"

I swallowed the food in my mouth. "No, I feel the same."

I took another bite of the omelet. It was warm. Which was strange because Gu-chan always made the food tongue burning hot. Each bite you took felt as if you were eating fresh melted metal.

As Gu-chan began to check the heart monitor, I swallowed my food and said

"You were six minuets late than usual this morning. May I ask what you were doing?" Gu-chan's face suddenly turned bright red and steam started to come out of her ears. If it weren't for the heart monitor and the clock, I might have been able to hear her brain sizzling. Gu-chan looks down and started to twiddle her thumbs.

"I was um..." she began. "With doctor Yumma. We... Uh... Had a quick... Um..." she slowly trailed off. Her face got brighter and she finally stopped twiddling her thumbs. I stared at her and tilted my head in confusion.

"Did the two of you have an adult conversation?" I asked, then took a sip of my milk.

"An adult _conversation_... Yeah, I-I suppose you can call it that." she replied after a moment. Gu-chan began to twiddle her thumbs again but two times faster and her face became more red. I became even more confused when she began to giggle every few seconds and nod to herself.

I became worried about her, but she was on cloud nine. I was certain that she wouldn't be able to talk about it with me. When someone says they had an adult thing happen to them, I have to leave it at that. Otherwise I won't become a worthy woman. Well, that's what my older cousin says anyway. She says I need to wait until my cheeks become red and my heart beats at a rate that doesn't hurt me as much, but at the same time kills me. I don't know exactly know what she meant, but I guess I'll find out when it happens.

After coming back from, "cloud land," as my cousin called it; Gu-chan took the clip board from the end of my bed and wrote down the heart monitors complicated numbers. Then made a quick motion that seemed to be her checking off boxes. I began to eat the rest of my food once she left. Whatever the adult conversation that Gu-chan and doctor Yumma had, must have been a long one. The food had gone a bit cold, so the rice was dry instead of moist, and the butter had already melted into the bread in the middle.

Once my meal was finished and taken away by Gu-chan, my tutor came and began to teach me how to use the foil method. As I expected, she didn't say happy birthday to me. But that's my own fault because I had never told her my birthday. When she left, I slowly began to look out the door window. No one was at the nurse's station. I lowered the volume of the heart monitor and remove the IV from my arm. I quickly but quietly got out of bed and walked over to the TV. I slightly pulled the TV stand and saw my secret little basket. I knelt down and pulled it out in front of me. Inside was a beautiful white sun hat with a light pink ribbon tied to it, a white summer dress, a pair of pearl white flats, and a pink shawl. I began to put on the outfit and completed it with a small pink crystal necklace. The entire outfit was my mother's favorite. She wore it all the time as a teenager. Once she was pregnant with me, she couldn't ware it anymore. So she decided to pass it down to me. I gave a sad smile to myself once I was completely dressed. I looked over at the clock. It was one fifty. I smiled in approval of the time and placed my little secret basket next to the TV stand. Ever since I was 8 years old, I would escape from the hospital and wonder around the area each year on my birthday. Around the hospital is a bunch of wild flowers that grew all year long. Even during the winter time, small Camellia would grow. I love flowers more than anything, so in a way; this place was my paradise and prison.

I went over to the leather couch and took one of its cushions. I then placed it underneath my blanket in a way to make it appear that I was sleeping. I walked over to the door and slowly opened it wide enough for me to poke my head out. I looked to the left. No one was there. I looked to the right. No one was there either. I opened the door and stepped out of my room. I closed the door quietly behind me and began to run down the hall way.

After a bit of running and one elevator ride with a mother and her two children, I finally reach the first floor. This was where most of the action happened. There is the waiting room that's at the entrance of the hospital, and at the right side beyond a small outdoor corridor; you have the emergency room. Walking straight ahead, towards the waiting room, I begin to hear the head throbbing noises. Screaming and crying toddlers, people coughing like no tomorrow, cell phones ringing, frustrated patients yelling at the nurses; the noise is simply dreadful. Those who have been here before bring a pair of winter ear muffs just to make the sounds seem like a casual day. The noise that everyone makes is so loud, that your head starts to throb like a nail being jammed by a rusty old hammer. Just being jammed in again and again and again, hammering like no tomorrow. If you don't cover your ears after five minutes of being inside, your brain starts to have a meltdown. When a person talk or even breaths, it sounds like fifty nails scratching at a blackboard in front of a microphone that's connected to seven speakers. You won't be able to walk properly because your brain is focused on dealing with the noise. If your head suddenly stops throbbing, you have to run all the way to the emergency room because your hearing has been damaged.

Once I was inches away from entering the waiting room, I took the sides of my hat and pushed them against my cheekbones, this helped block out the noise once I place my hands over my ears. I walked out of the entrance doors and walked all the way towards the fountain that was in the middle of the hospital's campus. As the horrible noises started to die down, I let go of my hat and stretched my arms out wide while I inhaled a deep breath of the fresh air. It was two o' clock in the afternoon. At two fifty, the sprinklers become activated. Since it was May, the weather was hot since it was almost summer, but its still spring. So we get nice, refreshing cool breezes. I sat down on the edge of the fountain to rest a bit. Once I was feeling good enough to continue, a sudden breeze came. Holding onto my hat and shawl, I laughed and smelled the scent of flowers the rode with the wind. I smiled at the gentle smell. I stood up and began my little journey of flowers.


	3. Note from Author

Note from Author.

Hello! My name Is Phantom and I just want to say a few things before you the next chapter comes out. :)

First of all, thank you so much for deciding to read this story! I hope you will continue the adventure with Rin and share with your friends! :D

Second of all, for those who have read this story when it first came out- the rating was T. And now it's M. Because I'm new to fanfiction and don't really know _all_ the rules just yet, I changed the rating so that I wouldn't get in trouble. There isn't any adult themes in it- except for that one time...  
And I don't want to put in any bad language in this story except for the simple ones (Ex: cra, dam, bas).  
So if you don't like that, you're OK. It's the whole violence thing. I don't know what's bad or not so I changed the rating to be on the safe side.

Third of all, this story is going to be in a two point perspective.  
But I have a bit of a pet peeve about people putting down the "POV" thing. It just...  
I don't know, I just think that it ruins the whole story. I think it's better to make a new chapter when you switch the point of view. Sometimes it works, but other times it doesn't. That's just my opinion though.  
Anyway, I just want to let you know that when it switches the point of view between the TWO main characters; there will be different fonts for the TWO of them. (I hope works here...)  
You might also be able to tell who's who by the way they talk and describe people.

OK! So now that you have read my little note, I hope that you continue to read my story! I don't care if it's just one person!  
I'm new after all, so one person is like... 500 people for me! XD  
Thanks again, I hope you have a wonderful day!


	4. The Land of No

The land of "No" (#)

It is now two thirty in the afternoon. There is nothing but darkness inside this place. Pain was throbbing everywhere. I carried the usual amount of 50 pounds of rock over my shoulder. Each step I took made the bag slide to the left and right, scraping my lower torso with the rocks that poked out of the bag. Each step I took became harder and harder to do. I was walking on more rocks. The rocks I stepped on poked, scratched, and cut at my feet. No shoes for the bottom workers.

It was dark, hot, and dusty in the mine that I was forced to labor at since I was a child. My hair had gone from dirty blonde, to blood red and mustard. My shirt is ripped at the sleeves and neckline. My pants had been shredded into shorts. My hands and feet were rough and dried with my blood. My arms and legs are coated with dirt. No baths for the bottom workers.

This place was once a meadow filled with tall green grass, flowers, trees, a gentle river, and people. But underneath the soil were tons of resources. Underneath our feet was a place that had hundreds of jewels, and metals like gold and iron. People came and tried to take the land. But we were too stubborn and did everything we could to protect it. In doing so, we were captured. With the newly capture land, they built an underground mine and a shop of some sorts that was above the ground, and open to the clean air. You either worked here in the mine, or up there in the shop. Either way, there is no freedom for the workers.

In this place, the good did not exist. Food and water would be savagely fought.  
In this place, it was either eat or _be _eaten.  
In this place, the young ones look out for themselves. They have no one to turn to. Older brothers would turn their backs, the older sisters... once existed but then didn't. What was once millions of people sprinkled down into hundreds. A slight pause of work and you get no food or water. No mercy for the workers.  
In this place, you lived in a world filled with "No".

I staggered behind a man who was older than me. My eyes were on the ground that I walked on. My ears picked up on something. Footsteps. I looked up at the man's bag to help enhance my hearing.  
One...  
Two...  
Three pairs of footsteps were coming. I shrugged off the footsteps and continued to slowly walk behind then man. As the footsteps got louder, everyone in the room began to glance their eyes towards the area the footsteps were coming from. It was coming from the stairs that was next to the red metal elevator. Three men in black and red uniforms walked in. They glared at the workers looking at them. When the workers started to work again, the men smirked at each other. They were heading towards my general direction.

I paid them no mind and continued to walk. The man in front of me however had stopped walking, causing me to fall due to my eyes being focused on the three men. I landed on the ground and felt the sharp edges of rocks poke at my palm and back. I squeezed my eyes shut, baring the pain in silence. When I opened my eyes, the three men were standing next to me, one of them smirking. One of the men had short black hair; the second had light brown, and the third one... Had white hair. The one in white hair was... _Special_. Unlike the other men, he was much shorter than they were and had his hair neatly tucked inside his hat. He looked a little bit older than I am, and had eyes that were two different colors. One eye had a hideous green color while the other had a disgusting blue. Everyone in the mine hated this boy. _Me _especially.

"This is him" the boy said. "Worker number 42, Nero Akita."  
I looked down and began to stand up, but then he kicked me behind the knees. I slammed back down onto the ground and squeezed my eyes in pain. The two men accompanying the boy started to laugh as I gritted my teeth. The boy grabbed what was left of my collar and pulled me close to his face. "I didn't tell you to get up" he said in a low voice that almost sounded like a whisper. I glared at him, hoping that he would let go and leave. He usually left once I glared at him. But instead the boy smirked. The boy let go of my collar and stood up snickering.  
"See what I mean?" he said to the black haired man. When the man slowly stopped laughing, he knelt down in front of me and said in a thick southern accent, "I don't think he'll be able to continue" he started. He turned to face the man in the light brown hair.  
"I mean look at 'im! He's at the verge of breakin'." He faced towards me again, "You can see it in the kids eyes..." He reached out for my face and pinched my cheeks together.  
"Shame he already started workin'. If he weren't so evil lookin' n' dirty, we could'a sent him to work upstairs."

I glared at him and bit his thumb that started to inch closer to my mouth. Most likely because he was wearing white silk gloves. The man stood up screaming, "He bit me! The kid bit me!" and held his hand in pain. After a moment, his glove started to turn red at the thumb area. The boy looked at me with a surprised face. I smirked at him. I heard some of the other workers snicker at the man. He glared at the other workers and yelled at the top of his lungs, "What are you lookin' at?! Never seen a man bleed before?!" The snickering stopped. The man glared at me. "You think you're funny kid?" he said in a raspy voice. I stared right back at him, the smirk still attached to my face.

The man's eyes turned into anger and he punched me. My upper body slammed into the ground. I squeezed my eyes tight, trying to bare the pain. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain at my ribs. I was rapidly being kicked at full strength. The room went silent. I felt it. Everyone was staring at me. At what the man was doing to me. Some of their eyes got angrier the more they kicked, while others started to look away with guilt in their eyes. After a dozen more kicks, they stopped. I rolled over to my backs, then onto my elbows and I began to cough like no tomorrow. Soon, I began to cough out blood. I started to gasp for air. Clean air.

I felt my shirt being pulled up, lifting my upper body and then my feet off the ground. I slowly opened my eyes, the black haired man was angry. He held my shirt up so that I was eye level with him.  
"I'm goin' to ask again. Do you think you're funny?" he said. He was at his limit. A vain popped out of his jaw every time he closed his mouth. I said nothing in reply.  
"**Answer me, you little piece of crap**!" he yelled. My ears were pounding. I glanced over to the white haired boy. He's looking down at the ground, terrified. He's shivering like a lost puppy and looked about as pale as his white hair. _This_ is why everyone hates the boy. He see's everything that happens to us. Our deaths, our beatings, our fights over food, and our work. The men like the two he has with him now, will obey anything he says. But instead he freezes and let it happen.  
_Bloody coward_ I thought.

"Don't bloody look at him! Look at me n' answer the damn question!" the man yelled again. I glared at him, having just enough of his yelling and began to swish saliva and blood in my mouth.  
"Gentleman!" a voice called out.

I glanced over to the where the voice was coming from. It was Mikuo. Mikuo is one of the lucky people who got picked to work upstairs.

When you work upstairs, you are formed to perfection; appearance wise. They still get the same food treatment and consequences as we do in the mine. No food or water, but the clothes are new and complete. His hair of light turquoise was healthy and clean. His vanilla colored face is as shinny as his hair. His eyes of turquoise had no dark bangs underneath, making his eyes shine as well. His clothes are clean and are in one piece. The people upstairs wear a white dress shirt and on top, he wears another shirt with longer sleeves that are folded at the wrist. His pants are held up by a brown leather belt.  
In this place, he is the only one I can trust in this entire bloody place. He is older than I am and treats me like a younger brother. To other people, his kindness towards me is considered foolishness. But hey, if you get something you should keep it.

Mikuo walked over to where we were. He smiled at the man holding me up, showing his white teeth. "Now why don't we just calm down?" he said once he was standing next to the black haired man. He glared at Mikuo, but Mikuo just smiled.  
"Why don't you put the boy down, _sir_" said Mikuo, with a sarcastic voice at the "Sir" bit. But the man just clutched my collar even tighter. I flinched.  
"You can't tell me what to do. I boss you 'n all your friends around" the man replied.  
"I'm aware of that, _sir."_  
The man looks over at me and then back at Mikuo.  
"All I want is the boy to be put down. Once he's touching the ground, I'm sure that he'll apologies about whatever it was he did" Mikuo said after a moment of silence. The man glanced over to me. Then he smirked.

"If you say so" said the man. He let go of my collar and let me fall. My ribs stung once I hit the ground. I hugged my sides while trying to stand up next to Mikuo. Mikuo held one of my arms and as gently as he could, he helped pull me up. The man crossed his arms and smirked. "Where's the apology your friend here said you'll give me, huh?" he asked in a rude manner. I glared at the man and spit my bloody saliva onto his face. The other workers began to cheer and laugh their butts off as he began to wipe off the liquid. Mikuo began to snicker a little as well. I couldn't help myself but smirk at my master piece. Or rather, master _face_.

The man glares at Mikuo, who is still snickering a bit.  
"This ain't funny you little-" he began, but Mikuo cut him off.  
"Oh no, I think it's hysterical." Mikuo puts both of his arms behind his head and smiles.  
"You see, this boy here is nothing more than a child. He's a year or two my junior and doesn't say a word. If his head wasn't covered in blood, like your face is now; all of you would be begging him to have him work upstairs."  
I became a little upset at the fact that he had just called me a child, but I decided to let it slide.  
"I think it's funny that you have a face of a worker" Mikuo began. He slowly began to put his hands back down to his side, his smile slowly disappearing.  
"After all, you killed many people for the _big boss_ in order to get a few gold coins" Mikuo continued. "Your families aren't at risk. You just wanted the money."  
"If you had the guts to tell the _big boss_ that you didn't think it was necessary to take this little park, no one would have had to suffer."

Mikuo was famous for one thing. Well, three things actually. One of them being his good looks, the other being his record of being rejected by women, and the last one was his speeches. Mikuo's speeches are so moving that he could point to someone and yelled something like "charge" or "get them," and all of the worker would go directly towards the thing he was pointing at.  
That was what's happening now. I didn't have to look behind me to tell that people were agreeing with Mikuo. I could hear the sounds of people dropping their tools and feet sliding slightly to face us, making a gritty sound from the ground. I could hear the sounds of people's breathing getting heavier; doing everything they can to not hurt the men in the room.

Mikuo continued with his speech. "There is only two people you will listen to. One of them being the squirt over there, and the other being the _big boss_. You all act like a bunch of little headless morons, running around searching for someone who has money or power." Other workers began to cheer and stomp their feet.  
Mikuo's face had changed completely at this point. Instead of being a smiling goof ball that he usually was, he became a whole different person. His turquoise eyes had turned into a dark green by the shade of his bangs. His expression looked as if he was calm, but at the same time you could see a face that looked _deadly _serious. His voice had become deeper and louder, making him seem older and more powerful. He had an aura of a deadly monster. If you were close enough to him, you would feel it and become frozen with fear.

The light brown haired man was frozen solid as he looked at the workers. Their evil stares of revenge were getting to him. The black haired man stood still for a moment, but then clenched his fist. The man's fist was heading straight towards Mikuo's face.

"Know your place, you little-" he began. His fist was nearly inches away from Mikuo's face. The workers around me started to become nervous. I heard some people gasped. I, on the other hand, calmly stood at where I was and watched Mikuo. I knew what was going to happen.

Mikuo is too quick for the man. He caught the man's fist and glared and him.  
"I know my place. You and your damn boss should learn _your_ place."  
Mikuo looked over to the white haired boy. The white haired boy jumped a little and looked down. Mikuo looked back at the man. The man was struggling to break free of Mikuo's grasp. He was obviously beginning to panic. Mikuo began to squeeze, making sounds of popping come from the man and his fist. The man started to sweat bullets. Mikuo leaned towards the black haired man and whispered, "If you tell any of your little _friends _about this... And I'll have to ask _my_ friends to help me beat the living crap out of you."

The man glanced around at the other workers and began to sweat even more. Mikuo finally let's go of the man's fist, and he stumbled away from Mikuo. Mikuo faces towards the white haired boy and smiled at him. "Will you do us the _honor _of excusing yourselves? I'm sure that the _big boss_ wouldn't approve of his little helpers stalling" said Mikuo with a sly voice. The white haired boy shivered, and then grunted a little. Until finally, he turned around and left. The two men fallowed after him.

Once the three men were completely gone, the mine started to work again. I dragged my bag out of the way of the line so that other people would continue on. I faced toward Mikuo, and scratched my left cheek. Before I could do anything as a token of my gratitude, Mikuo swings around and knocks my head lightly with a fist.  
"You, you thick headed, little... Dumb skull!" said Mikuo, forcing himself not to cuss in front of me. I rubbed my head with my wrist over the area that Mikuo hit me at.  
"Why do you have to make a simple situation turn into a complicated one?!" Mikuo yelled. I looked down at the ground.  
"You should thank Kaiko-san at dinner tonight. If it weren't for her, I might not have even come down and help you out!" Mikuo sighed and placed his hands over his eyes.  
"As mad as I am at you... I can't really stay _too_ mad at you. I mean... That whole bloody face thing was pretty funny. But it turned the situation worse" he muttered.  
Mikuo sighed again and looked at me in between his fingers.  
"What do you have to say about this, mister funny pants."  
I looked up at him, shrugged and gave a cocky grin.  
Mikuo smirked. And then he started to laugh a little bit.  
"Yeah OK. He deserved it and it _was_ pretty funny" said Mikuo, once he stopped laughing.  
Mikuo placed his hands on his hips and looked stern at me.  
"I better not have to save your but like this again for a while, all right?" I nodded. Mikuo takes a quick look at his watch, and then looks at me smirking.  
"It's three" he said smiling. My eyes widen. I grab Mikuo's wrist and look at the time myself. It really was three. I let go of his wrist and tried to run while carry my bag of rocks to the end of the long line. After that, I went straight to my little cell/room and grab one piece of paper and a small note card. I stuffed both of the papers inside my "pockets" and ran outside with a broom.

Every day at three o' clock in the afternoon until four fifteen in the afternoon, I get to go outside and clean the back of the shop area. It's my favorite time of the day. I get to see how the flowers are doing and have a breath of air. Real air. One that is fresh and clean. And today's especially special.  
It's only for a moment, but I get a glance of a girl.


	5. The First Meeting of the eyes

It was three twenty in the afternoon. I had picked four daisies. Fifty minuets had passed, and I was exhausted. Having nothing to wipe the sweat off my face, I took one end of the shawl and gently dabbed my face. I didn't want to go back to my room. I didn't want to go back to the empty room filled with false light. Not yet. It was my birthday; I didn't want to go back with only four daisies. Determined to continue, I continued to walk forward.

Three twenty-five. I had walked quite farther than I usually did. The soft, fresh, healthy grass that I was used to slowly trailed into a place with dirty weeds. The ground transformed into a sandy and rough waste land. I never walked this far from the hospital before. I turned around and saw nothing but grass behind me. Not a trace of human life. I realized that I was lost. My vision suddenly became blurry. My throat got tight and my eyes stung. I wiped my eyes and struggled to breath. No matter how hard I told myself not to panic and start crying, nothing worked. I was at my limit. My legs were struggling just to hold my body up. My normal breathing had become gasps of breath. I needed to rest. I turned around again and began to walk forward. I didn't know where the hospital was, so might as well look for a place to rest and ask for directions once I recover.

As I struggled to continue to walk forward, I saw a tree stump at the bottom of a small hill. The stump was surrounded by grass. A light breeze blew over me. I picked up the smell of flowers...! Having a sudden burst of energy, I begin to walk faster towards the stump. The stump looked as though it had seen better days. The top of the stump was covered in moss and had rough edges all around it. But it looked much more comfortable than the rough ground. When I finally reached the stump, my legs gave out; making me fall down onto the stump.

The first thing I had to do was return my heart rate back to normal. My heart was beating so much and pounding so hard that every step I took was like walking during an earthquake. I started to count in my head.  
_One, two, three, breathe in. Four, five, six, breathe out. Seven, eight, nine, check pulse. _

As I continued with this process, my gasping had slowly turned into heavy breathing, then from heavy breathing into panting. Until eventually, I was fine and began to take reasonable amounts of oxygen. I took one end of my shawl and dabbed my face with it. I looked down at my feet. My pearl white shoes had looked a little worn out and had specks of mud on it. I bent forward and gently began to wipe the mud off. The stump must be magical. The moment I sat down onto it, my legs had stopped throbbing. They felt as good as new.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew. I quickly grabbed my hat and shawl, closing my eyes so that I wouldn't get sand in them. I suddenly caught the smell of flowers. I slowly opened one eye and saw three blue flower petals ride the wind. I snapped my eyes open and followed the petals as they rode the wind. When the wind had slowly come to a stop, the blue petals landed gently on the grass. I couldn't believe my eyes. There were at least six dozen beautiful blue flowers. They looked like... daisies? But that's strange... daisy's don't usually make the color blue. I picked one of the daisies that was next to the stump and examined it. I realized that it wasn't a daisy but another flower that I did not know of. Whatever it is, it's beautiful.

The flower had an estimated number of seven petals. Four of the petals are carved inward, as if protecting something. While the other three are lose and open, as if inviting you to pick up the flower and peek inside it. The flower looked like... It almost looked like the vase in my room. The main bodies of the petals are white, but instead of having the rims of the petals blue; it was all around the edge. The blue was as light as the sky of a bright spring day, having big fluffy white clouds around. I smiled at my new discovery and smelled the mysterious flower. It... Smelled just like the wind, carrying the many scents of flowers. A sweet, spring fragrance; and yet it had a cool, relaxing bitterness in it. Like having a freshly baked strawberry cake next to a cup of hot green tea, and the smells from the two combined.

After a moment of silence, another gust of wind suddenly arises again. As I held onto my hat, shawl, and the flower; I felt a shadow fly over my head. I began to look up, but was cut short by the figure unexpectedly flying past my head. I reached towards the figure to catch it. As if it was being controlled by a remote, the figure suddenly backs up and lands in the middle of my face. The wind came to a slow stop, and the figure floated gently onto my lap. I looked down, and saw that it was a paper airplane.  
_That's strange. What's a paper airplane doing in the middle of nowhere?_ I thought.  
I slowly began to turn around. Once I was fully turned, I saw a fence. Behind the fence was a building of some sort... As I started my way from the top of the fence to the bottom, my eyes saw something staring at me.  
Or rather... _Someone_.


	6. The talk, flower, and present

I was staring at the person behind the fence. The person on the other side was staring back at me. He looked like a boy my age, maybe even a little older. He has ripped clothes on and dirty skin that had splotches of blood. I shivered.

"Um... Is this yours?" I asked hesitantly. The boy flinched, and then slowly nodded. After a moment of silence, I stood up and walked over to the fence. Once I was just a few feet away from the boy, I realized that he was quite handsome despite the dirt that was covering him.

His eyes are hazel that seemed to shine in the sun. At first glance they appear life less and empty, but they are just covered by the reflection of the sun. Underneath all that dirt and blood, he seemed to have a vanilla with a blend of light caramel skin. He had lovely hair despite all the dirt. He had the color of dark yellow hair that had red highlights; most of the red was coming from the top of his head. He had thick hair that covered most of face, his eyes popped in between his bags. On the right side of face, he had more bangs covering his right eye. Based on where I was standing, there appeared to be a scar that ran from the top of his right eyebrow all the way down to the bottom of his right eye.

The boy scratched his right cheek with his index finger and avoided eye contact with me.  
_He must be shy_ I thought.  
I smiled at the boy and said, "This is a beautiful airplane you made." He looked up at me and looked at me like I was crazy.  
I giggled and said, "I don't know how to make a plane. To me, this is amazing." I smiled as I examined the plane. He stared at me as I did so.  
"The folding is so sharp. It must fly quite well" I said as I smiled at him. The boy stared at me for a bit, and then relaxed a bit as he broke into a small smile. I looked up to the top of the fence, and tossed the airplane into the air. The plane sored threw the air swiftly and went to the other side of the fence. The boy backed up a little and kept his eyes locked on the plane. I watched him slowly walk backwards and wiggle his fingers. He then bent his knees and jump to the catch the plane. I put my hands together in front of my face, hoping that he'll catch the plane without hurting himself. The boy snags the airplane and lands on his feet, stumbling a bit once he land. He looked up at me and gave a small grin while pointing at the plane. I smiled at him, glad that he didn't hurt himself.

The boy walked towards the fence and me like the way we were before.  
"Nice catch" I said as he examined the airplane. He smiled at me and scratched his right cheek with his index finger. There was something about this boy that... just made me feel relaxed. He looked in the most terrible condition but seemed fine. He was strong. Knowing this... Somehow calmed me in a way.  
"May I ask your name?" I asked after a moment. He flinched at the question. He looked down at his feet and said nothing in reply. He looked so heartbroken, as if he was on the brink of tears. I wanted to ask another question, but nothing came out of my mouth. I couldn't say anything to him. He looked so sad for me to ask questions. I looked at the flower in my hand and gently twirled it.  
I glanced up at the boy and hesitantly began to speak, "Um... It's alright. You don't have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable." He looked up at me with surprised eyes. I glanced back at the flower and twiddled with it.  
"I understand how hard it is to answer a question that you feel will hurt you in some way" I said smiling sadly at the flower.

When my father started looking for a tutor for me, they would ask questions. One of the questions would be about what happened to my mother. Another question was how contagious my illness was. I wouldn't reply and they would ask again and again, like a broken record. They would start to get annoyed at my silence and leave, or walk away after my father tells them. At one point I purpose the idea of not being taught at all to my father. He was furious at the idea and lectured me. He ended up hiring a tutor for me at random. Thankfully she was a nice lady who didn't bring up those types of questions and just taught me.

After a moment of awkward silence between me and the boy, I looked up at him and smiled.  
I pointed at the flower I was holding and asked, "Do you like flowers?" The boy instantly perked up and nodded. He pointed at the flower and then began to pound a fist over his heart with a proud look on his face. I tilted my head in confusion.  
"You only like this flower?" I asked. He nodded and then thought for a moment before shaking his head. I glanced back and forth at the flower and him. He felt some kind of emotion towards this flower. I just couldn't figure it out. The boy pointed at the flower again. I stared at his hands as he slowly placed his hands over his heart. I tried to put the pieces of his hand gestures together in my head.  
After a moment I said, "This flower is important to you... Is that what you're saying?"  
His face light up and nodded. He gave a small smile at me with slight blush on his face. I smiled as well once I realized that I guessed correctly.  
"Do you like flowers in general?" I asked. He nodded, returning back to his normal emotionless face. I smiled and said, "I do as well!" I was so happy to have someone who liked flowers like I did. The boy blinked a few times in shock. I didn't know what he was surprised at, but whatever it was made him brake out into a gentle smile, which surprised _me_.

Never before have I ever seen a person smile so... Relieved. His eyes were in a dreamlike state, filled with life and emotions. He looked happy to have someone to talk to. I wonder what he must be hiding to be at such a state as too make him look like a lifeless doll.  
The more I stared in to his eyes... The more I felt like I understood him. It almost seemed as time had stopped. The wind wasn't sending the slightest hint of life. There were no sounds.  
The fence was gone and the building had vanished into thin air. All I could see was his gentle face. I wonder If I could ever be so relieved. Look so... Free of worries.  
With the illness I have... I always had this feeling that I was chained down.  
That no matter how much I struggled, I would never break free from its clutches.

After staring into each other's eyes, I snapped back into reality. I felt my face turn red from embarrassment. I cuffed my right cheek with my free hand and began to panic.  
"I-I can't stay! I have to find my way back!" I said in a panicked tone. The boy snapped back into reality once I began to look around.  
I looked at him and with a stressed expression and asked, "Can you please tell me where the Kagamine Hospital is? It's a rather important day today and I need to hurry there. I-I'm paying a visit to a friend and gathered flowers for her, but I've lost my way."  
I felt a small sting at my chest. I knew what the feeling was. It was guilt.

I obviously lied to this boy. I couldn't tell him that I was sick. I barely knew him. But he was the only one who didn't work in the hospital that spoke with me. I felt like I had made my first friend. I didn't know how he would react if I told him my situation. Would he be like the others?  
Would he look at me with disgust and run away from me? Would he be disgusted at me for thinking this way about him? Would he stay away from me? Would he laugh at my life and taunt me? I... I didn't want to be all alone again. I didn't want the chains to hold me down even more. I looked down and hid my face from the boy so that he wouldn't see my guilt covered face.  
"I'm sorry... I'd like to chat with you more but... I- this is really important." I whimpered. I glanced back at the boy. He looked about as heartbroken as I did guilty. He looked away, closed his eyes before finally point behind me. I looked behind me and then back at him.  
I gave a sad smile and said "Thank you." I backed up slightly and gave a small bow.

I stood up strait again and said, "Thank you for spending time with me." I pointed at the flower. "Is it all right if I take this flower with me? I would like to keep it for myself." He blinked with a surprised expression before finally nodding. I smiled and bowed again. I turned around and began to walk to the top of the hill. Once I reached the top of the hill, I stopped walking and sighed with relief as I saw familiar grass and buildings in the distance. I was nearby the hospital's shopping square. Gu-chan told me that my father thought it would be wise to have something to draw in people. So he sold some of the land. My father let them build one grocery store, a few houses, one hotel, one apartment complex, a library, and two restaurants.

Seconds before I began to walk towards the familiar locations, I felt a gentle poke at my left calf. I looked down behind me and saw a miniature paper airplane. I knelt down and saw writing on the wings of the plane. I picked it up and gently began to open the airplane. With each fold I open, I began to realize that the writing almost began to look like a letter. Once I got the plane open, I gasped at the writing that was on it.

_"Happy Birthday. Ps: I hope that you can visit me again tomorrow at 3." _

I looked over to where the fence was, searching for the boy. Once I caught his dark yellow and red hair, he was already walking into an underground stairway, slowly disappearing into the darkness. How did he know? Have we met before? Did he know my father? I looked back down at the paper. I stared at it with curiosity. A sudden rain drop falls onto the paper. I looked up at the sky and saw that there were no gray clouds over me. I felt another drop hit my thumb. I touched my cheek... It wasn't raining, I was crying. My cheeks felt warm, my throat was tight, and my heart was thumping. What were these tears for? I wasn't sad. I wasn't angry. Why did these tears fall from my face? Then I realized.  
I was crying tears filled with _happiness_.


	7. Cursed Lips

#

Three forty one. I was heading back inside the mine filled with death and depressed air. I still had time outside with the air I loved. But I need a place where I could get frozen water and splash it on my face. I could feel it.  
My heart is beating fast... My cheeks are hot... The pain from my ribs is gone...

I was getting sick.

I probably have a fever, which is where the frozen water comes in.

I was still trying to process what just happened in my head. The girl that I have watched from a far was just in front of me. I never thought that she'd be _there_ of all places. It was the spot where my sister and I planted flowers for the deceased. The spot where we had the most laughs.  
The girl took one of the flowers, but its fine with me. She's a good person, and my sister would have like that too. She planted those flowers at first to be a place to cry. But as the flowers bloomed one by one, they became a place where anyone can relax when they felt sad. The flowers had a unique color to them that made your mind go blank with your problems and fill with curiosity.  
The flowers... The Iris germanica was my sister's favorite.

I stopped in my tracks at the thought of her. In this place... Older sisters didn't exist. My red face began to turn cold. My heart started to return to normal. The stabbing pain from my ribs returned. It seems that the thought of my sister was the cure for anything. Or maybe it just made things worse. I continued to walk again, and head towards my room. I had to put the broom away before getting the water.

Once I arrived at my room, I took the broom in my hand and placed it on the wall where it usually stands. My room was nothing but a cold cave. The only thing I had in here was a harp pointed rock that I use to help hold the broom up.  
I had nothing. No freedom. No sister. No shoes. No blankets. No mercy.  
I sat down at where my "bed" was and tilted my head back on the wall. Nothing good ever happens in this place. It was a living hell. I stuffed my hands in my pockets and felt something poke at my right hand. I looked over at my pockets and saw the paper plane I made earlier.

I stared long and hard at the plane, replaying everything that happened to me moments before I entered this bloody place. I took the paper plane out of my pocket and examined it. This plane that was once paper... Was the one that caught the girl's attention and made her have a conversation with me. Well, she tried to anyway. If it weren't for these cursed lips, I would have said everything I wanted to say.

I thought about how beautiful the girl was. She had short blonde hair that shined as bright as the sun. It might as well not even be colored blonde but yellow. Her hair was protected by a beautiful white sun hat with a pink ribbon. She wore a huge pink scarf that she wore over her shoulders, covering the top part of her white summer dress and her cream skin. Her eye's reminded me of a clear summer night's sky. Her eyes were as dark as the sky, and the glimmer in her eyes shined like stars. She was truly beautiful.

I started to feel strange again. Just at the thought of the girl, my cheeks became hot, my heart started to beat at a strange rate, my pain had gone away. What is this feeling…?  
I started to remember the times I had seen Mikuo like this. His cheeks would become crimson and his eyes would look dazed.  
Is this feeling the same that he had felt? I'd have to ask him…  
I suddenly felt anger brew inside me. I clenched my fists and started to pound at my head.  
I would have to ask him if this was what he felt at one point.

But I can't!

I slowly began to stop pounding at my head and relaxed my fists.  
I can't say anything… Not even make a sound...  
Not to that girl…  
Not to Mikuo…  
Not to anyone.  
My lips and my voice had both been taken…

With sister.


	8. Craving

I was in a daze the whole time I was walking back to the hospital. No... "Daze" might be the wrong word. But there is no other word to describe how I felt. I feel as though... I was in a dream. Each step I took felt as if I was stepping on clouds. As if I was as light as a feather.

It must be three fifty by now. I had stopped crying. My eyes became clear, and my throat relaxed. My hands had stopped trembling with happiness. I trembled so much; it was hard to hold onto the paper airplane. I have never acted that way before. It feels... Amazing. To experience something that makes your hands tremble with your overflowing joy. I remember the time that Gu-chan dropped her paper work in the middle of the hall way after being praised by doctor Yumma. Her face was red and she couldn't stop trembling. At first I thought that she was sad, but the cheerful smile on her face told me otherwise. I was so envious of her then. But now, I had trembled like she did.

Once I was at the hospital entrance, I sneaked past the nurses and doctors before finally arriving at my room. I took the cushion from underneath my blanket and quickly put it back to where it belonged. I opened the basket where I had left it and changed into my night gown. Once all of my clothes were inside and neatly folded, I realized something that made me frown. I couldn't have the paper airplane out with me. Gu-chan would ask where I got it from, which means that I would have to lie. I wouldn't have the strength to lie twice in one day and I'd end up telling her everything. If I did that she would tell my father and he would lock me up in this room himself. He would probably even take out the windows just in case he thought I would do something preposterous. I picked up the airplane that lay next to me and began to stare at it. It was my first birthday present I had ever received. And so soon I would have to put it away. After a moment of hard thinking, I came up with a brilliant idea; if I do say so myself. I placed the airplane next to me and rearranged my clothes to cover up the bottom of the basket. Normally it would be in a neat pile at one end of the basket, but would often tilt to the side or collapse. I picked up the airplane and gently placed it on top of my clothes. I closed the lid of the basket and carried it over to the right side of my bed. I placed it right next to my night stand and slid the basket mid-way underneath my bed. This way I can easily pull it out and read the letter. I broke out into a smile when I thought about what had happened with the boy and his gift to me.

It's six o' clock. I finished my bath and ate my dinner like normal.  
But for some reason... This feeling I have just won't go away.  
I ate my usual dinner of moist salmon, fresh green salad, steamy tofu stew, and a slice of fresh strawberry shortcake for dessert. The meal always satisfies my hunger. So why do I still crave for something? Did my dinner not fill me up? I wonder what this feeling is.

As I continued to think about the possible reasons of what I was feeling, my door opened. It was Gu-chan.

"Good Evening Miss Rin" she said as she closed the door behind her.  
"What is it Gu-chan? I didn't ask for you" I replied with a bored tone. I was too confused to reply respectfully like I always did. Gu-chan started to giggle.

"Like father like daughter I suppose" she said, softly chuckling.

I looked at her with a confused look. "How so?"

"Earlier I talked with your father and he said the exact same thing to me! Just drop the 'chan' part."

I gave a short sigh. "Well what is it?"

She looked at me with a confused look. She was trying to read my expression and sudden attitude. I have to admit; even I was surprised at how I was talking.

I gave a tired smile at her. "I apologies for my manners. It has been a long day for me."

After a moment of staring at me dead in the eye with a silly yet serious face, she broke into a smile. A sign that she returned to normal and mentally shrugged off her confusion. She walked over to me, looking at my IV bag to see if it needed a refill soon.

"Well, your father has asked me to tell you something" she said slowly.

I flinched and my tired smile slowly turned into a sad frown. I never liked talking about my father. I rarely see him. He's always in his office, confirming paper work form the patients insurance or from the doctors, reading the complaints or praise people had to say, and then finally doing research for my illness. I constantly worry about him. He works so much that sometimes the doctors forget who he is. And recently he has been adding tons of sugar, syrup, or anything with sugar in it into his coffee.

When he walks down the halls, everyone stiffens. My father barely gets the chance to rest, and doesn't intend to. When he's in the hallway- people move out of his way and watches out. One time I heard my father yell at a doctor for almost killing a patient. The doctor thought that the patient needed surgery to help ease the pain that came from the top of his spine, where the neck was. But the problem was that the patient was an elderly man. If it weren't for my father, the man would be dead. Another time my father came out of his office was when he was getting coffee and his assistant was sick. A nurse bumped into him and she told him to watch where he was going in a rude manner. He glared at her and she nearly fainted at the sight of him. He began to yell at her and it took _five _doctors to calm him down, the poor nurse was crying her head off. If I recall correctly, my father had only visited me twice in my entire life; both times was to lecture me.

But even so, I've never thought of him as a bad man. He just needed someone to love him. And that was my job. But... It's hard to do a job you were given when you can never get the chance to start.

I looked down at my hands. I rubbed one of my thumbs with the other one.

"...What did fa-... What did he say?" I finally asked.

It was hard to even say his name. I found it difficult to say the word "father" when I forgot everything about him. I barely remembered what he looked like. I didn't know how he looked if he was sad, angry, or happy. I didn't know what he loved or hated. I didn't know about his family or past.  
I didn't know if... He loved _me_.

Gu-chan probably saw how hard it was for me. She sat next to me and placed her hand on top of my hands. She was so warm. I always liked it when she placed her hand over mine. It told me that she wasn't going anywhere, and that whenever I needed her she would be there. Gu-chan was both like an older sister and mother to me when I really needed her.

Gu-chan said that she started working here a few days before my mother gave birth to me. During those few short days, Gu-chan and my mother would chat about almost everything. Gu-chan would skip out on work just to talk to my mother; sometimes she would bump into my mother and father talking together and join in on the conversation. The three of them became close friends, so when my mother died; Gu-chan took the death as hard as my father did. That's why Gu-chan became my personal nurse. My father trusted her.

According to Gu-chan, when my mother was still alive, they would talk about ways to comfort a baby. Apparently my mother didn't know what to do when a baby cried. When her niece, who is my older cousin- Sarah- was upset and cried; my mother couldn't calm her down. Gu-chan is great with children and gave lots of advice. The day before I was born, my mother said that she was going to use the "sideways rock method," as she called it. My mother had a theory that if a child needed comfort, you have the baby's body sideways to make the baby easily look around at you, other people, or the environment. Once the baby is positioned, you gently rock your body back and forth to help calm it. At the same time, the baby would be able to listen to your heartbeat. If that didn't work, you would rub the babies arm or back and shush them in a soft voice. When I was five, Gu-chan did the exact same thing for me. I still remember every detail like it was yesterday. I closed my eyes and let the memory replay in my head.


	9. The nine year old promise

One night during the winter season, when I was just five years old; I was practicing saying the alphabet before I went to bed. When I reached the letter "D," my door had suddenly opened. There was two doctors at the door, one of them with a wheelchair. When they saw me still awake, they gritted their teeth and looked at each other. I didn't know the name of the duo, so I decided to give them names. The one without the wheelchair was doctor # 1, and the one with the wheelchair was doctor # 2.

Doctor #1 took a step forward towards me, slowly as if I was a wild animal.

"Hello Miss Rin" he said in a calm voice.

I blinked at him and smiled. "Don't you mean good evening?" I asked.

Doctor #1 gave a short laugh, and I started to laugh a little as well. I was happy to see visitors so late.

"Miss Rin... May we have a word?" he began as he took another step towards me. I frowned.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked. He took another step forward and shook his head.

"No Miss Rin, you aren't in trouble."

"Oh, okay!" I smiled at him. "What is it then?"

"Well there has been a sudden appointment schedule for you" doctor #1 said. I began to laugh.

"Mr. Doctor, aren't you in charge of that? Silly Mr. Doctor!"

Doctor #1 eyes twitched as he took another step towards me. "Yes... I've made a _mistake_."

"No lollipop for you Mr. Doctor" I said, still laughing.

"Miss Rin, can you please take a seat onto the wheelchair?" asked doctor #2 in an annoyed.

Doctor #1 turned around and gave him the evil eye. I tensed.

"...Why?" I asked hesitantly.

Doctor #1 turned my way again and opened his mouth to say something, but doctor #2 spoke before he did.

"You're having surgery tonight, Miss Rin. Whether you like it or not."

I gasped at the word surgery. Doctor #1 turned around to doctor #2.

"Will you shut up!" yelled doctor #1.

I started to hold onto my blanket and shook my head.

"I don't want surgery..." I sad softly. Doctor #1 turned towards me.

"Miss Rin... If you do this, it might help you get better. Don't you want to be outside playing with other kids?" doctor #1 said.

I shook my head and hold my blanket tighter.

"I want father" I said. I felt my eyes getting watery and my throat getting tight. Doctor #1 walked up next to me.

"It's alright Miss Rin. It will only take a moment. Please be a good little girl, and do as we say ok?" he said as he began to tug the blanket out of my hands.

"Go away! I want father!" I cried. The tears began to escape. I felt each one roll down my cheeks. Doctor #1 continued to pull at my blanket.

"Miss Rin, doing this will make you better" said doctor #2, his voice getting more annoyed.

"Go away!" I cried. Doctor #1 had his eyes narrow, his voice was no longer calm. It was filled with frustration.

"Tell us to go away again, and so help me-" he began, but I didn't listen.

I was truly crying at this point. The harder he tried to get me out of bed, the louder I cried. Soon both of them began to try to get me out of the bed.

"What's going on here?" asked a failure voice. I looked over at the door and saw Gu-chan looking shocked at the scene. Doctor #1 let go of me and faced her.

"What are you doing here? I thought all nurses were in the emergency room helping the people involved at the crash" he said.

"It's seven o' clock. Time for Miss Rin's IV bag to be changed" replied Gu-chan in a firm voice.

I sobbed and reached out for her. "Gu-chan, they won't go away!"

"Just what are the two of _you_ doing here?" asked Gu-chan as she walked towards me, swatting away the doctors hands from my blanket. My sobbing quieted down, as she stroke my hair.

"We want to perform surgery on Miss Rin is all" said doctor #1, sounding a lot more gentle than before.

Gu-chan stopped stroking my hair and looked at him.

"Do you have the permission form from Doctor Kagamine?"

"No, I do not."

"Then I cannot allow it. What type of surgery were you planning to do on her anyway?"

"We were going to inspect her general organs and take a sample from her bones to see what the disease is like" said doctor #2

Gu-chan's eyes went wide and she glared at them. "Get out. Now" she said in a firm voice. They didn't move.

"We don't have to follow the orders of a _nurse_. Especially one who doesn't even where the proper uniform" replied doctor #2.

Gu-chan pointed at the door behind them. "**Get**. **Out**." she said. I was confused at what was happening around me and began to cry again.

"Do you seriously want to waste the rest of your carrier taking care of a brat?!" yelled doctor #1. I began to cry even louder at the yelling. Gu-chan pointed at him and narrowed her eyes.

"Don't you _dare _call Rin a brat!" she yelled.  
"Miss Rin is the most amazing little girl I have ever met! Instead of being upset at all things she can't do, she practices her numbers and alphabet each night and makes games to make them fun! Instead of trying to take short cuts to get better, she fights her problem with everything she's got!"

Gu-chan folded her arms over her chest. "I'm not wasting my career at all. I became a nurse to help children and their parents get better because that's what _I love_! Now, **get out!**"

I guess they must have been annoyed at this point because they pushed Gu-chan out of the way, making her crash into the wall. They became really forceful and practically flew me off the bed. I began to wail.

"Papa! Papa, help me! Help Gu-chan!" I screamed.

Doctor #1 and 2 both took my arms and placed me onto the wheelchair.

"I don't want go! You're hurting me!" I screamed.

"Well too freaking bad! You could have just listened to us and no one would have become so forceful!" yelled doctor #2. I began to wiggle to get out of the doctors clutches, but I barely moved. They started to wheel me out of the room. But Gu-chan tried to stop them again.

"Why are you doing this?!" yelled Gu-chan as she pulled at the collar of their doctor coats. I was too scared to move. I covered my eyes with my hands and continued to cry.

"What else?! We want _doctor _Kagamine to stop being such a pain from not getting enough sleep because of this little brat; and leave!" yelled doctor #1.

He pushed Gu-chan off him and doctor #2, and began to wheel me out of the room. I began to cry louder and louder once I was out of my room and in the hallway. We must have made a lot of noise because the next thing I knew, I heard a loud booming voice that echoed throughout the entire hospital.

"**What in god's name is going on?!**"the voice yelled.  
I was so shocked that I stopped crying and just let the tears silently run down my face. I looked over to the where the voice yelled and saw my father standing with his hands stuffed into his doctor coat. He must have come down from his office. He looked grumpy and exhausted, most likely from the lack of sleep.

I reached out for him and began to cry again. "Papa..." I sobbed. When he saw me there on wheelchair, sobbing and reaching out for him; his eyes went wide. A second later, his eyes went narrow. He marched right over to where we were, his blue eyes looking icy cold.

"Gu-san. Who is responsible for this racket" he asked in a low growl. Gu-chan who was behind the two doctors, holding onto her left shoulder pointed at the doctors.

"These two sir" she replied. Father glared at them. They flinched. He grabbed the doctors by the collars and dragged them off. I got up from the wheelchair and hugged Gu-chan's legs, crying. She picked me up and sat down on the ground. She turned me so that I was facing my father. My eyes were filled with tears so I couldn't see very well, but it seemed like he was still dragging the two doctors away. Gu-chan then began to slowly rock me back and forth, softly shushing me.  
"It's okay Rin... It's okay. The bad men are gone now" Gu-chan whispered into my ear. My wailing began to slowly turn into sobs.

When father came back, I was holding onto Gu-chan's shirt, sobbing every now and then; mostly sniffling.

"If you don't mind me asking, what did you do sir?" asked Gu-chan. My father closed his eyes in annoyance as he continued to walk forward.

"They won't be coming back here again. I fired them." he replied.

When father stopped in front of the two of us, I reached out for him. I didn't say anything, I just reached out both my hands to him; seeking comfort. He stared at me with wide eyes, looked away from me and grunted. Then he continued to walk to his office.

"Gu-san, once she stops crying, put her to bed" he said in a annoyed tone.

"Yes sir" Gu-chan replied.

I stared at my father's back. I stared at him with my arms still out. I slowly put my arms down.

"Papa..." I called out. My voice was soft and raspy. He didn't turn to look at me. Having a sudden pain in my chest, I felt more tears roll down my face and began to cry again. Gu-chan continued to gently rock me and rub my back as I cried.

After a few minutes or so, I heard hundreds of high heels walking on the marble flooring. The nurses on this floor had returned after helping out at the emergency room. When they saw me and Gu-chan, they quickly walked over to us and began to ask questions.

"Horrible men tried to take her to the surgery room and cut open her stomach" Gu-chan said.

The other nurses gasped in horror. "That's awful! The poor thing" said one of the nurses.

They began to comfort me. Once the tears stopped, Gu-chan did as my father told her and put me into bed. One of the nurses took the wheelchair away. Once I was back in my bed, Gu-chan tucked me in and did what her original purpose of the night was- change my IV bag. Gu-chan smiled at me and said goodnight, then she began to turn around and exit the room.

I flinched at the look of her back and reached out for her, I began to cry again. But no tears came out. She turned around and looked at me.

"What is it sweetie?" she asked.

"I... I don't want you to go" I sobbed. Gu-chan smiled at me gently and sat next to me.

"Don't go Gu-chan..." I whimpered. She gently strokes my hair and shook her head.

"I won't go anywhere. If you ever need me, I'll be there. Nothing will stop me from getting to you" she said gently.

I stared at her for a moment and whispered, "Pinky promise...?"

"Pinky promise."

I reached out my pinky to her and she gently hooked her pinky with mine.

I was a little scared to go to sleep, thinking that she'll leave to go home. But the next morning, she was still there. She was still holding onto my pinky and was asleep.

Ever since then, she hasn't broken her promise.


	10. The letter

"Rin? Miss Rin, can you hear me?"

I opened my eyes. I was still sitting on my bed and Gu-chan was still next to me.

"Are you alright Miss Rin?" she asked with concerned tone. I gave her a sweet smile and nodded. She giggled.

"You are a strange one Miss Rin, I hope you know that." she said as she pinched my cheek.

I smiled and rubbed my cheek where she had pinched me.

"Anyway, as I was saying before I was so strangely interrupted- your father wanted to let you know about something" she said as she tried to get comfortable.

"He's going to introduce you to someone tomorrow at around noon I think." My eyes grew wide after hearing the news.

"W...Who? Who will he be introducing me too?" I asked. My father had never done this sort of thing before. My father prohibited me to socialize with anyone in the same age group as I was.

"I don't know. All I know is that he's a friend of your fathers and they were to discuss about your illness."

"Ah... I see" I said slightly disappointed. I thought that he was going to introduce me to someone my age. Not another smart person who might cure me.

Gu-chan saw the disappointment in my eyes and slapped me on the back, while saying, "Hey don't look so down! This friend of his has a son about your age. While they talk about medicine and all that boring stuff, you will be alone with the kid."

My eyes grew again. I _was _going to meet someone my age! Sure I'm a little disappointed that it isn't a girl, but neither the less! I get to talk with someone and make a friend! And we would be alone, talking about who knows what. I broke out into a smile.

"This is great news Gu-chan!" I said as I threw my hands up in the air. We both laughed at my actions. I have never thrown my hands up in the air before.

Gu-chan laid down on my legs and stretched out. I giggled at her face that began to look like a strange fish monster as she stretched. Fish... Suddenly the image of Gu-chan running after fish popped into my head.

"Hey... Gu-chan?" I began softly.

"Hm? What is it?" she replied. Gu-chan sat up and looked at me in the eyes, waiting for my answer.

"Can you teach me how to make a paper airplane?" I asked.

"A paper airplane?" Gu-chan scratched the back of her neck looking at me confused.

"Do you not know how to make one?"

"Well, I know how to make hundreds of them. But why do you want to learn how?"

I looked down from her eyes. Even I don't know why I asked her about paper airplanes. But it seems that the feeling I had earlier... It was starting to grow as I thought about the letter I had received. I realized then that the feeling I had wasn't in regards to food... It was in regards to the letter. I must have started to feel like I needed to make a thank you letter to that boy. I had a sudden vision of the boy smiling, holding the paper airplane and pointing at it. I felt my cheeks grow warm. I looked back to Gu-chan who was surprised to see my cheeks red.

I smiled at her and said, "I want my words to soar, Gu-chan."


	11. The beginning of Something

It was two thirty in the afternoon. I had spent the last two hours talking with Gu-chan. She was pretty upset at one of the nurses so she didn't want work. We talked about pretty much anything that she thought of. We talked about sunflowers, iris's, animals, math, science, carrots, and Piko-kun's visit. I told her that he was a nice boy and I would have loved to talk with him more and become his friend. But that look in his eyes still bothered me.

What was "work" for Piko-kun? And why did "work" make him look so dreadful? When I told Gu-chan, she told me that she would ask my father when she got the chance and tell me later.

I checked the hallway like I had done yesterday and changed into my clothes. As I rushed outside and hid from the nurses and doctors, I stopped at the scent of lavender. I looked around and saw that one of the nurses was applying lavender scented lotion. I stuck out my tongue in disgust and continued to run out of the hospital. If there was one thing that I disliked that came out of the ground- it was lavender. Lavender was meant to be viewed in a field or occasionally smelled when they were in a bouquet. Lavender should not, for any reason at all- be made into a spa product. When lavender is made into bath salt or soap, I can't stand the smell of it. I think it's mixed with chemicals or something in order to make the smell really strong. I used it once when I was a child, and the smell wouldn't go away for days. My room started to smell like lavender, and anything I touched combined its original smell with lavender. I couldn't even eat my food by myself, Gu-chan had to feed me or else the food would taste like lavender. I'm sorry, but chicken noodle soup must _not_ be mixed with lavender.

Once I was outside and survived the loud noise that busted from the waiting room, I stretched my arms up into the air and took a breath of the fresh air. I rested a little bit on the fountain like I did yesterday, watching people walk with a loved one by the hand. Some of the men would lift their hats at my presence. I would give a slight nod in reply. After a moment or so, I stood up and took the short cut to where the boy was. As I began to smell the scent of the flowers from yesterday, I clutched the paper airplane that was in my hand. I was getting nervous.

What if he won't be there? What if he ignores me? What would I do if...  
I gasped at my sudden negativity and shook my head. I have to think positive! He said in his letter that he would be here at three. He'll be there. I know he will. I began to walk up the small hill that was inviting me to walk up it.

As I walked up the hill, my heart started to pound. I was so nervous. I wanted the boy to be there. I wanted to be his friend. There was no reason for him not to be my friend. He doesn't know about my illness or even my father. I tried over and over again to brush the feeling off me, but it always crept back. I closed my eyes as I continued to the top of the hill. Once I reached the top, I slowly opened one eye. No one was there waiting for me behind the fence.

I stared at the fence and the building behind it. My hands that were holding onto the airplane with a tight grip began to loosen. I felt my chest become tight and my heat sting. He wasn't there... I shook my head again and slapped my cheeks. I need to stop being so negative and always doubt things like this! There is always the possibility of my arrival being a little early than the requested time.

I held my head up high and walked to the bottom of the hill. I looked both way of the fence. I didn't see any proof of life walk or stand behind the fence. Once I was close enough, I got on my tip toes and tried to look inside the hole that had an underground stairway; hoping the boy would pop out of nowhere. But there was nothing. There was no person as far as I could see, and no sound of footsteps walking towards me. I began to tear up with disappointment.

"Hello?" I called out, my voice cracking at the end. No one replied. I cleared my throat and I called out again, but a little louder. Again, no one answered. I rubbed my eyes with my shawl and began to walk back home. He wasn't here. Maybe he had no intention of sending me the paper airplane. Maybe it wasn't even his. Maybe this was all a prank. What a low person he was, doing such a thing to a lady. Yet again, _I_ was the fool who fell for the trap. I sniffled as my negativity began to wrap itself around me, cloaking me in a blanket of darkness. Only a fool would fall for such a trick. And it seems that I am a fool.

I suddenly heard the sound of something fall on to the earth. I turned around and saw the boy from yesterday lying on his back, his face looking like he was in pain. Then a sudden broom fell onto his stomach, making him flinch and sit up; holding his stomach. I replayed the moment in my head, slowly following the broom that fell; leading my eyes to the top of a building. What was he doing up there? More importantly, why didn't I see him? After a moment, the boy started to rub his lower torso. A sudden gust of wind blew over us, causing sand and dirt to dance with the wind. My eyes squinted, trying to not get any sand in it as I watched the boy. The boy grabbed his broom and stood up, suddenly swinging the broom like a mad man. And just like that, the wind died down. Was he some sort of wizard? The boy scratched his right cheek and turned around, facing me with his eyes closed. He opened one of his eyes, and then both of them opened at the sight of me.

I was staring at him with big eyes and felt a single tear roll down my left cheek. The boy's face became red and ran my way. I wiped the tear off my cheek and looked down, my cheeks become warm. I saw his bare feet, the bottom being covered in blood. I opened my mouth to speak, but as I did my body began to tremble.

I swallowed and began to talk, but I ended up stuttering; "I... I thought that you weren't here and then I thought that... I thought..."

I felt another tear roll down my cheek. I quickly wiped it off and felt my face turn red with embarrassment. What a fool I had become. This boy is obviously a kind and good person. He wouldn't have done something so cruel as too bring my hopes up and then suddenly crush them.

And yet I thought badly of him, accusing him of such awful things. Another tear rolled down my cheek for the third time. I wiped it off with my shawl. Earlier I had thought that he wouldn't be my friend because of the silliest reasons. Now he won't become my friend because I had thought badly of him. I squeezed my hands together, lightly biting my lips together so that I wouldn't let out a sob. What an awful human being I was. I opened my mouth to say something, but instead I took shivering breath.

I cleared my throat and softly began to continue with my earlier sentence, "...I thought that... I thought that you pulled some sort of prank on me. I thought that you were the lowest of all humans on this earth for doing so." I let out a sob and closed my eyes shut.

"I'm sorry... Please don't hate me. Please don't be disgusted by my thinking and ignore me. I'm so sorry" I said, trying hard not to cry. But it didn't work. Tears slowly fell down my cheeks as I sobbed.

After a moment, I felt some touch my hat. I began to look up at the boy. He was holding his broom and held out the handle to touch my head in between the wired holes that built up the fence. I stared at him as more tears fell, wondering what he was intentionally doing. His face turned as red as a tomato with embarrassment and pulled the broom back. Once the broom was pulled away from me and out of the hole, he scratched his right cheek with the scar on it. He glanced over to the right to avoid my eyes that were trying to lock with his. I felt a small smile slowly forming on my face. Was he trying to cheer me up? The boy glanced back at me and gave a warm, gentle smile. I understand now. He was doing his best to comfort me. Even though hie didn't speak, his eyes did the talking for him.

_"I'm just glad you came. Don't be sad"_ was what I felt his eyes were saying. I looked down and wiped my eyes with my shawl. Once my face was dry from my tears, I looked at him and smiled. He gave a small grin as he tilted his head.

"I have a letter here for you" I said as I smiled at him. His eyes widen with surprise. I took a step back and gently threw my paper airplane into the sky. He caught it the same way he did yesterday and scratched his right cheek with his index finger.

"I'm not very good at making these yet. What do you think?" I asked shyly. He examined the airplane and gave me thumbs up in reply. I giggled at his approval for my paper airplane. There wasn't going to be any silence today.

Before I felt the awkward silence creep in on us, I smiled and asked, "So, what do you think about lavender?"

He shook his head with disgust in reply. I laughed, with crimson cheeks.


	12. Dinner Time

#

It is now six in the evening. Dinner time. Hundreds of fights were occurring, all for a chunk of bread and a small bowl of water. I was too much in a good mood to care. The girl came today. And she gave me a letter. I didn't need food to fill me up. The letter did it for me. During our meals, the women that were spared and still breathed; they would set up cafeteria styled tables and wash them. It was useless to cook homemade bread since they were not allowed in the kitchen, so the girls would just clean over and over again. That was their jobs. The men mined while the women cleaned or take care of the injured.

I would sit away from the other workers over at the far end of the room. If you were near the doorway, you would somehow be involved in the fight for food. Sitting, standing, or if you already got you food; you would still have to fight. The noise of people fighting was horrible. You could hear the shattering of bones but not know what part of the body was being hit. You could hear the sound of someone slamming into the cold, rough ground. You would hear people coughing their lungs out.

In this place... You had to be strong.

As I was listening to the awful sounds of the fighting, I looked down underneath the table. I was holding the letter the girl had given me. I opened it and began to read. With each word I read, I was able to hear her voice. "Dear Kind Boy"? I began to sinker. No one has ever called me "kind" before. The sentence was refreshing. Her hand writing is so gentle. Compare to my rough hand writing, her's seemed like an angel had dropped down onto the paper. I began to sinker some more at my exaggeration. As I read the rest of her letter, I could feel my cheeks and heart becoming warm. My heart was pounding. I was getting sick again. But I don't mind it this time.

"Gee! You wild animals! It's just bread!" someone yelled.

I stopped reading and straightened up, my face becoming red. Mikuo was walking towards me, his usual neat hair was a mess. He changed into his night uniform, which was basically my clothes. Well, before they were ripped and destroyed. Mikuo looked at me with annoyance in his eyes, but it quickly went away as he smiled at me.

"Hey Nero" he said. Mikuo scratched the back of his head and looked at me apologetically.

"Sorry but I already ate your share!" I looked at him with my eyes wide and my mouth open. Then I began to glare at him. Traitor I thought. He suddenly began to laugh.

"I can't believe you fell for that! Of course I didn't eat your share, baka!" he chirped. And he tossed me a chunk of bread. I looked at it happily but then frowned with confusion. I looked up at Mikuo and pointed at the bread. Half of it was torn off.

Mikuo saw me pointing at him and sheepishly replied, "Eh? Oh, the other half? Well..." He looked over at a group of kids. They were all smiling and eating small strips of bread. I relaxed as I saw them. I looked up at him and pointed at him. Why didn't he give them his bread?

"Hm? What is it?" he asked as he sat down. I pointed at my bread and then back at him.

"Oh, my bread?" I nodded in reply. What I like about Mikuo was the fact that he could actually read my mind. I just had to do a few hand gestures and he understands me like a book. He would probably be the master at a game of charades.

Mikuo scratched his head and gave a goofy grin, he then said in a embarrassed tone, "Eh well, I gave half of mine to this old man and the other half to a group of kids." Mikuo was too nice for his own good. I don't think I ever see him eat. I looked down at my bread. I let out a sigh and began to rip my bread in half. I looked at the two pieces and gave the bigger half to him. His eyes widened and my action.

"Whoa! You're giving me half of your bread?!" he said practically yelling. I looked away and blushed a little. He began to sinker and I glared at him. He smiled at me and we began to eat.

Once we were done eating our small portioned bread and the fighting stopped, turning into endless chatter; I looked down and began to read the rest of the letter. I could feel my cheeks getting warm again. It felt like I was in my own little world with nothing but me and the sound of the girls voice. I began to sinker once I read that she reads my letter over and over. It made me happy to hear that she likes it so much.

"Oi. Nero, what are you snickering about? It's freaking me out!"

I looked up and instantly got smacked across the face. I place my hand over my cheek and looked over at Mikuo with my mouth open in shock. He was laughing as he covered his mouth with one hand.

"Good god, I'm so sorry! I didn't expect you to look up!" he said trying to stop laughing. I glared at him and rubbed my cheek.

"Sorry, Sorry! I just want to know what your snickering about." I felt my face get red and I calmly looked away.

"What's this? You won't tell me?" he asked with a shocked expression. I didn't respond. Mikuo leaned over and pinched my left cheek.

"Hey come on man. I said I was sorry! You have to tell me what you were snickering about!" he said as he began to pull on my cheek. My head fallowed the direction he pulled me in, but I still didn't reply. Mikuo grabbed my other cheek and began to stretch out my face.

"I'm not letting go until you show me what you were snickering about!" he said teasingly. I glared at him as my face continued to be stretched. I must have looked like an idiot.

"Mikuo, stop that!" a girl shouted.

Mikuo flinched and looked over to where the voice was coming from. I glanced over with my face still being stretched. It was Kaiko-san, Mikuo's childhood friend. Kaiko-san was one of the youngest women who was lucky enough to be spared. She mostly cleans during the day and her clothes would be covered in dirt. But neither the less, she was very pretty. She had long brown hair with skin the color of vanilla ice cream. She has dark blue eyes that resembled blue jewels that could be sometimes found here. She is two years older than I am, but she was shorter than I am. I was 5'5 while she was only 5'3. And then there's Mikuo who was 5'6. I know that a lot of boys my age like her and that some of the uniformed men like her as well. The white haired boy liked her, up until yesterday. It was pretty weird. What would usually happen was, whenever Kaiko-san was in the same room as he was, he would stare at her with red cheeks. But that didn't happen today.

Around one o' clock in the afternoon, I saw him stumble into the mine I was working in and stared out into outer space, his cheeks red. Kaiko-san wasn't even in the room. It gave me and some of the other workers the creeps. One of them threw a small rock at him, and it hit him square at the forehead. Everyone quickly turned away, trying hard not to sinker so they wouldn't get caught. But after five minutes, the white haired boy still didn't do anything. I glanced up at him again and saw his entire face turn red. He was still staring at nothing. The guy who threw the rock and I looked at each other with confused expressions plastered on our faces. Moments later, his forehead started bleeding. He started to panic and walked out of the room. Once he was gone some of the workers laughed, while me and the guy just blinked at what had just happened.

Kaiko-san walked over to us and looked at Mikuo with an eyebrow raised. Mikuo's cheeks turned red as he pouted at her.

"Nero here was snickering at himself and won't tell me why" he said as he looked back at me and stretched my face some more. I gave a bored expression at his childlike tone.

"Well that's no excuse as to stretch his face! Let go of him" Kaiko-san replied with a bored tone. Kaiko-san often treats me like a child and treats Mikuo like a little brother. I could understand the treatment she gives me, but Kaiko-san and Mikuo are the same age. Maybe it's because of Mikuo's childishness that Kaiko-san treats him the way she does. Mikuo did as she said and let go of my face with an annoyed grunt. I nodded a thank you at Kaiko-san. She smiled at me with a tilt of her head.

"So Nero-kun, will you tell me what it was you were snickering about" she asked as she pointed at herself. I widened my eyes with a shocked expression while Mikuo started to laugh. I shook my head and felt my cheeks turn red.

"In that case..." Kaiko-san began as she walked towards me. "I'll just take it!"

She swiped the letter from my hands. I got up and tried to take it back but Mikuo shielded her.

"Ooh! It looks like Nero here has a penal!" she chirped as she read the letter. "And it's a girl~!"

Mikuo turned towards Kaiko-san and peeked through her shoulder while holding my head at an arms distance from them.

"No. Way. A girl?!" he said in a surprised tone. I smacked Mikuo's hand and ducked underneath him, grabbing the letter away from Kaiko-san.

"Hey, I didn't get to finish!" she whined as I walked away from her. I glared at them with my cheeks red. I looked down at the letter and saw that it wasn't ripped or torn anyway. I relaxed and smiled at it. Mikuo walked over next to me rubbed the top of my head.

"Uh oh, I know that look. Someone here is in love!" he chirped. I felt my face turn red at the word.

Could that be what I was feeling?

I looked over at Mikuo shook head no. My face was getting even redder. Kaiko-san giggled and clapped her hands in front of her face.

"How lovely! Nero-kun is in love!" she said happily. I shook my head some more and felt my face turn into a tomato. The two of them laughed.

"You can deny it all you want Nero. But I know the face of love when I see it" Mikuo said as he walked back to his seat and sat down. Kaiko-san took a seat next to him.

"Ah love. It's every girls dream to experience" Kaiko-san said with a dreamy look in her eyes. I saw that Kaiko-san was blushing and so was Mikuo as the glanced at each other.

As I walked over to my seat and sat down in front of them, they turned their glances towards me. I began to wonder what "Love" is. It was my first time hearing that word, but my face automatically reacted at the thought of it. I scratched my left cheek. It was a bad habit of mine. On the left side of my face was a scar I had gotten when I was a child. One of the uniformed men hit me with the end of their gun. I placed the letter on top of the table in front of me.

"I hope you plan on writing back" Mikuo began. "I'm pretty sure the girl would like it if you did." Kaiko-san smiled and nodded in agreement to Mikuo. My face got red again as I looked at the letter. I didn't know what to do. Should I write back? It is my only way of communicating with her... And maybe it could help me understand this whole "Love" nonsense. I stared at the letter.

I suddenly saw the girl smiling at me with the letter in an airplane.

I couldn't help but give a gentle smile.


	13. Threat

The next morning I woke up bright and early. I streched my arms out and had a big smile plastered onto my face. I had the most wonderful conversation with the boy yesterday. I had never been so happy while talking with someone before. It was akward at first because I was crying silently, but after I gave him the letter; everything went smoothly. I looked over at the clock on the wall. It was seven twenty. Before I could think that Gu-chan was late, my door opened. There she was, happy as always.

"Good Morning Miss Rin!" she chirped. I smiled.  
"Good Morning!" I replied happily. Gu-chan smiled with a shocked expression on her face.  
"Well, aren't _you chipper_ this morning?" she said as she walked towards me with the tray as ussual. I didn't say anything and smiled at her.  
"Gu-chan, can you go and get me some paper? No, _a lot_ of paper please?" I said while squeezing the honey into my milk.  
"More paper planes Miss?" she asked. I giggled and smiled at her.  
"I call them paper _airplanes_, but yes."  
"Lol, I will never understand you."

Gu-chan walked out of my room for a moment and came back with a two stacks of unopened copy paper. I laughed as she placed the next to me.  
"I guess this about covers it huh?" she asked while laughing. I nodded happily.

After our quick morning routine, I began to practice making paper airplanes. I giggled at myself for thinking about making making another letter to the boy. He hasn't even replied to me yet and already I wanted to write to him. I felt my cheeks turn red at the thought of him.

I wonder what this feeling is?

Just as I finished making my fifth paper airplane, I heard a knock on the door. I looked over at the clock. It was only eight in the morning. My tutour shouldn't have arrieved yet.  
"Um, who is it?" I called out. The door opened. I flinched. It was my father.

My father closed the door behind him without saying a word. I looked down at my paper airplane. An akward silence filled the room.  
"...M-May I help you... Sir?" I asked hesatintly. My father pushed his glasses up and turned my way.

"Gu-san visited me yesterday" he began. I flinched at his voice. It sounded like a frozen soward. I glanced up at him and saw him looking at the paper airplanes around me.  
"...What on earth are you doing?" he asked. The soward was poking me.  
"Um... I-I'm making... Paper airplanes" I replied.  
"The correct term is 'paper plane,' don't use the word 'airplane'." The soward sliced me. I looked down at the one I had in my hand.  
"...Couldn't it also be 'airplane'?" I said hesitently. My father sighed. The soward sliced me again.

I looked at the window next to my night stand.  
"...You were saying something about Gu-chan, sir...?" I said slowly.  
"You must look at someone when you are talking to them" he replied. I didn't look at him.

"**Rin**" he said in a low growl. I jumped at the sound of his voice. I slowly turned my head toward him and looked him in the eye.  
"You were saying something about Gu-chan, sir?" I repeated. My hands were trembling.  
But not with happiness. With _fear_.

He looked at me and then looked away covering his mouth. He coughed and then cleared his throught. I tilted my head in confusion. My father was looking nervous about something. He looked at me and pushed his glasses up.  
"Um... Yes." he began.  
"Gu-san had visited me yeterday, wanting to know about the work that Natsu and Piko did. She said you wanted to know. Is this true?"

I hesitantly nodded my head. He stared at me for a moment and closed his eyes.  
"You do not have to concern yourself with them" he said as he turned toward the door.  
"Yes sir..." I said slowly as he oppened the door. Before he stepped outside he looked at me.  
"...You, um... Are good at making those" he said hesitantly.

I looked down at my paper aiplanes. I looked back at him and smiled.  
"Thank you sir" I replied. He stiffedned and cleared his throat.  
"If I catch your test scores beging even a number lower than perfect, I will make sure you can't make another paper plane for the rest of your life" he said coldly. I flinched at his threat.

He walked out the door without saying another word.


	14. Minature Airplane

So far, my day has been quite a strange one. My father paied me a visit, my tutor taught me more foil instead of giving me a daily quiz, and for lunch Gu-chan served me carrots. Just five sticks of carrots. But she ate three of them so all I had was two. I craved to write a letter to the boy, but it would be confusing to have to reply to a new letter. I sighed.

A sudden knock was on the door. I flinched again thinking it was my father. I shoved all the paper airplanes off my bed and onto the floor next to my night stand.  
"C-Come in" I called out. When the door opened, I relaxed and smiled at who it was. It was Piko-kun. He was carrying a buquete of daisy's.

"Good Afternoon, Miss Rin" he said as he closed the door behind him. I smiled at him.

"You don't have to call me that. I'd feel much more comfortable if you would call me Rin-chan" I said happily. Piko-kun's cheeks went red as he smiled at me.

"Alright, I'll keep note of that" he began. "Um, these are for you Miss- I mean; Rin-chan. I hope you like it."  
He gave me the buquete of daisys and I admired them.

"You shouldn't have. They're lovely, thank you" I said as I smiled at him.

"I'm glad" he replied with a smile.

Piko-kun stood there as he watched me smell the flowers. I felt my cheeks warm a little. I wasn't used to haveing someone stare at me.

"Why don't you have a seat Piko-kun" I said and gestured at the leather couch. He looked behind him and frowned at it.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. He gasped and looked back at me with a shy grin.

"N-Nothing!" he began. "I'd prefer to stand thank you." I tilted my head at him in confusion.

"It's just that, the furniture is quite far..." he trailed off. I watched him mummble and mutter. His cheeks grew red and I think I heard him whispher, "I wouldn't be able to stare into your eyes."

I smiled and placed the buquete next to me. I placed my hands ontop of my lap and looked at him.

"I hope today we get to have a better conversation, Piko-kun" I said. He looked at me with widened eyes. I gave a warm smile to him and tilted my head. His face turned red and he smiled.

"Yes" he replied. I placed my index finger above my chin and my thumb underneath, and began to think of a conversation. After a moment, Piko-kun stuffed his hands in his pockets and began to speak.

"What is it that you like to do in here?" he asked. I looked at him, surprised that he actually came up with a question.

"Um..." I began. "Well I like to pracice my school work. And, let's see... Sometime's my personal nurse will stop by and chat with me." He smiled. He looked so cute when he smiled, it truely suited him.

"I'm so envious of you Rin-chan. My father has me often help at his work that I become behind at school work" he said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

It was only for a moment but I saw it in his eyes again. He looked lifeless... And filled with guilt.  
Akward silence began to fill the air.

"Um, here's a question" I asked, desperate to break the silence. Piko-kun returned to normal and looked at me.

"Uh, if someone has sent a letter to another person and they wanted to make another letter but hasn't recieved the first letter, what should they do?" Piko-kun gave me a confused look and began to think. I felt emberresed at the fact that I had made the question so confusing.

"Well..." he began. "Maybe the person could send a smaller letter."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, they could write a letter that was on something small. Like a... A notecard for example" he replied. I began to think about his theory. It was brilliant. It was just like what the boy had done. He had sent me a small letter on a minerature paper airplane. If I did the same thing, then he could read it over and over again like I do with his. I smiled brightly at Piko-kun and placed my hands in front of my face.

"That's brilliant Piko-kun! Thank you" I chirped. He blinked and smiled.

When it was time for Piko-kun to leave, I asked Gu-chan to get me some notecards. She called me strange and came back with a stack of notecards. I began to make a bunch of paper airplanes with them. Once I made one that flew well enough, I began to write my miniture letter.

_How do you feel about days that are just... Strange? _  
_Up until now I have disliked them because they would mess up with my schedual. _  
_But now... I like them. _  
_When I have a strange day, I think about writing a letter to you. _  
_A miniture letter_


	15. Dinamite

#

"Come on man! You can't do this to us!"

Mikuo and Kaiko-san were behind me, pulling at my shirt. I shook my head at them. It was two ten in the afternoon. They wanted to come with me to meet the girl.

"I'll get you another piece of bread for dinner tonight!" Mikuo plead. I shook my head.

"Nero-kun, please take us with you! I want to see what she looks like" this coming from Kaiko-san. These two are so nosy. When I wrote my letter to the girl last night, they were watching me with stupid grins on their faces. They were really staring to tick me off.

As I continued to mine at the cave wall, they continued to plead with all their might; bribing me with things I didn't care about. All I cared about was the girl.

"Nero-kun, why are you so mean!" cried Kaiko-san. Mikuo started to rub my head.

"Come on, we just want to see her! You won't even know we're there!" Mikuo cried. Having my head being swaied to the left and right made it hard to focus. As I lifted my pickaxe out of the wall, I stumbled backwards. The startled Mikuo and Kaiko-san stumbled backwards as well, making our feet getting tangled into each other. We lost our balance and the three of us fell.

I oppened my eyes and saw my pickaxe flying upwards. I got up and picked up Mikuo and Kaiko-san off the ground who were rubbing their backs. Once we were at a safe distance, I dropped the two and felt them watching me. I got a rock and threw it at my pickaxe. I was able to hit it, and the pickaxe twirled onto a a sharp rock pointing out of the wall. It was slowly sliding off it, making a soft scrathing noise. I stared at the wall and had a strange feeling inside of me grow. That rock wasn't there before. I looked doan and saw a child who was trying to work. The picaxe was right above him.

"Hey, get out of the way kid!" Mikuo yelled. The kid looked up. I ran over and tackled him out of the way. We both landed quite a distance away. The kid was starting to tear up in confusion. I looked over and saw the pixaxe fall down right where the kid was working at. I began to relax with relief. But I quickly tensed. Why was the sharp rock that held the picakxe blinking red?

Suddenly an explosion occured.


	16. A Deep Hatred

#

Rocks where flying everywhere, a few men were in the air, and people were screaming. I covered the kid with my body who was crying. Once the explosion settled down, I looked over and saw a huge hole in the wall. There was shining rocks coming off of it. Jewles. I stood up and picked up the kid up. I wiped away his tears and rubb his head. He slowly stopped crying and looked up at me. I gave a small grin at him. He hugged me and then ran away to a man who was running towards the kid. Must be his father. I turned around and headed for Mikuo and Kaiko-san. Once I was close enough, I saw that Mikuo was shielding Kaiko-san. I ran over to them and kneeled next to them. Kaiko-san's face was red and she was trembling. I placed my hand on Mikuo's shoulder. He slowly oppened one eye and then oppened both of them.

"Nero! Thank god you're not hurt" he said as he hugged me. I froze. This was a first. Mikuo let go of me and looked at Kaiko-san.

"Are you alright Kaiko?" he asked. Kaiko-san's face turned even more red and she nodded. I relaxed and Mikuo let out a sigh. I looked around and saw that some men were on the ground, they were groaning in pain.

But...  
By the looks of it, a few men were _dead._

I suddenly heard the sounds of footsteps running. Mikuo and I looked up and saw men in uniforme running down a flight of stairs. Then I saw _him._ The white haired boy entered the room, but was on the little cliff that was above the workers. As always, he was in a safe place. The white haired boy flinched at the sight below him. He noticed me and his face went pale. I stood up and glared at him. The room went silent, all you could here was the sound of a few children crying at the lost of their fathers or brothers. One of the uniformed men walked up to the boy and pointed at the hole in the wall. The boy looked at the hole and then looked around the room. It was only for a moment, but I saw anger flare up in his eyes.

"Well now. It seems that my little toy works!" boomed a voice. I flinched and looked over at the door next to the boy. A man with pitch black hair and different colored eyes walked into the room. His face was pointy, making him look strong.

"It seems we should thank our doctor for helping us" he said grinning. I clenched my hands into fists at the sight of him.

"The _big boss_..." whisphered Mikuo. He was staring at him with hatred as much as I was.

The _big boss_ walked closer to the hole in the wall and began to laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Mikuo yelled. The boss stopped and looked down at us. Mikuo stood up next to me and glared at him.

"Can't you see that some people are _dead _because of that thing?!" Mikuo yelled as he pointed at the hole. The boss gave an evil grin. I shivered in anger.

"That _thing_ that you are pointing at, is what will bring me money" the boss replied evilly.

"But people lost their lifes because of it!" Mikuo yelled. The workers began to drop their tools and glare at the boss. The boss smirked again.

"People are born, then people die. It's the circle of life" he said while grinning. The workers began to talk to one antoher, saying how dispicable he was. The boss's smirk faded. He took out a gun and pointed it towards us. Mikuo flinched and the other workers became silent.

"You should know your place boy" the boss said with an evil lookin his eyes.

"What can you do against me? I have the gun and you don't." Mikuo grunted.

"Do you think I care about my own life?!" Mikuo yelled. The boss grinned.

"Oh no, of course not. You're to heroic to care for your own well being." I flinched. The boss placed his finger on the trigger. I tackled the man next to me just as the gun fired.

"Nero!" Mikuo yelled. I looked at the ground and saw a bullet three inches away from me and the man. I guessed right. Mikuo glared at the boss.

"You son of a-" Mikuo yelled, but he was cut off. All the uniformed men pointed their guns at Mikuo. He flinched. The boss began to laugh. I got off the man and stood next to Mikuo. I glared at the boss. He slowly stopped laughing and his eyes widened. I saw that his men were trembling uncontroably. Every worker in the room was glaring at the boss. The workers had the eyes of demons. The boss flinched. He grunted and raised a hand. The men put their guns away.

"You better start working you little runts!" he yelled.

"I better see lots of jewels in the carts tonight!" Kaiko-san stood up and looked at the boss.

"B-But sir, how can they work on a hole that is more that fifteen feet off the ground?" she yelled.

I pulled Kaiko-san's shoulder and stood in front of her. The boss looked at her than at me. "You..." he said slowly. I wasn't a stranger to him. He often sends his men to me and they would beat me up. On occasion, Mikuo would save me. I glared at him. His eyes narrowed.

"Well then think of a way!" he yelled. Before exiting the room, he glared at me.

"I'll deal with you later" he said in a growl. I flinched. He turned around and left the room. I looked over at the white haired boy. He was looking as angery as we were. He closed his eyes and followed the boss. I glared at him as he left the room.

_A new kind of hatred formed in each of our hearts._


	17. My worries dissapear at the sight of you

#

I was in my room resting. It was two fifty in the afternoon. I had just carried two dead men over to the nurses room. The nurses room had a little shoot that would carry those who died away. No one get's a proper barial. As I sat in my cold room, my mind was racing. I had saved two people today when my life was at risk. In doing so, I'm going to have to face the consequences. I began to tremble at the thought of what I was going to experience tonight. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm me down. I looked over at the corner of my room and saw the letter I had written to the girl and the letter she had written me. I stared at them.

I stood up and walked over to them. I picked up the letter I had written. I started to have a craving to see her. I held the letter tightly and closed my eyes. I started to tremble. What if there will be a day when I cannot see her because I was being beaten to death? I might not live another day tomarrow. Even if I did, how many days do I have?

It's unsettling.

As I walked outside and felt the clean air hit my face, I tensed. It was three fifteen. Who know how many hours I have left.  
Five? Three? One?  
How much longer do I have to wait before I meet my end?

"Ah, good afternoon!"

I flinched. As I looked up to the person who called me, the wind blew. And there I saw her. At the top of the hill, smiling at me. She walked down the hill and towards me. My heart began to melt at the sight of her.

"How are you today?" she asked in a cheerful voice. I stared at her with my paper airplane.

I had forgoten everything. I forgot what it was that was troubling me. I forgot why I was in this place. She tilted her head with the smile still on her face. I slowly began to smile at her with a gentle face. My cheeks were warm. She giggled.

"By the looks of your face, I suppose that you had an okay day today" she said. I scratched my left cheek with my index finger and smiled. She held up a small paper airplane and smiled brightly.

"Look! It's cute isn't it?" she asked. I nodded in reply.

"This is going to be the daily plane! Whenever you want to tell me how your day was, just take a notecard and write it down!" I looked at her confused. As she smiled, her cheeks began to grow red.

"Well, today I wanted to write to you another letter. But you haven't replied to the first one yet so... Ta-dah!" She began to laugh at her creation. I smiled and stared at her. She gentley tossed her paper airplane over the fence and I caught it. I smiled at it and then threw my letter over the fence. She smiled at the letter she recieved and I smiled at her.

As time went by with our small conversations, I began to dream.  
I could be free from this place as well. This girl, who had no worries, could show me the way. I could get away from this dark and cruel place. I could see the things that are good with my eyes again. The more I spend time with her, I begin to slowly believe in them again.  
In the world she lived in, it is filled with yes. Despite our differences, she comes to see me. I wait here, with chains and wounds, for her to come again.  
Yes... With her, I can leave. Become free.

No.  
I could feel it...  
It's all a lie... This dream I have.


	18. Love

The next morning, I got out of bed and grabbed the letter the boy had sent me. I didn't have time to read it yesterday because Gu-chan talked with me all day yesterday. Something had really upsetted her. Everytime I asked, she would move onto a different subject. I'm really starting to worry about her. I have never see Gu-chan so upset before. I hope that she gets better soon.

Once I grabbed the letter that I had placed in my basket, I got back in bed so that the morning nurses could see me. I carefully unfoldeed it and began to read.

_To the kind girl;_  
_It seems that both of us are paper airplane that I have sent to you that day, just so you could turn my way, I have held onto it each night. There is no words on it, but it was what drew the two of us together. It is my treasure. _  
_In regards to my name, It shall be a mystery. _  
_Doesn't it seem more fun to not know each others name?_  
_\- From the kind boy_  
_PS: I hope that your day is as wonderful as you are_

I giggled at his letter. He was teasing me by not telling me his name. It didn't bother me though.  
I felt my cheeks grow warm. My heart fluttered at his last scentece.  
He found me wonderful.  
He hopes that my days are as wonderful as I was. My heart was practically dancing. My door suddenly opens, I flinch and put the letter next to me underneath my blanket. It was Gu-chan. She was smiling as always. But I could tell that she was just smiling so that I wouldn't worry.  
"Good morning miss Rin!" she chirped. I smiled at her. As she walked towards me I slowly slid my letter farther down my leg so that it wouldn't get smushed by the tray's leg.

Once the tray of food was on my lap, Gu-chan looked at the monitor's numbers. I opened my packet of honey and began to squeeze it into my milk. After a moment, Gu-chan quickly walked over to the end of my bed and picked up the clipboard. I smiled at her and opened my mouth to begin out regular routine, but before I could say anything began to walk around in circles. I stared at her in suprise. Gu-chan was famous for being super active, but never had she done it in front of me. Gu-chan flipped threw the pages of her paper work and looked up at me then back at her paper. As I watched her walk around in circles, I ate some of my food.

After a moment she stopped and let out a huge sigh. Gu-chan walked over next to me and wrote down the numbers on my heart monitor.

"Are you okay Gu-chan?" I asked. She looked at me with a smile and nodded. I smiled back and continued to eat my food. Gu-chan stared at me as she began to squirm. I took a sip of my milk.

"Miss Rin, are you in love?" Gu-chan asked suddenly.

I was so suprised at what she asked that I spitted out all of my milk like a hose. My face was as red as a fully bloomed rose.  
Gu-chan jumped a bit and pulled out a hankercheif from her pocket. She began to wipe my mouth and then started to clean my blankets. But she looked at the mess I made and then at her hankerchif. She quickly went outside and then came back after a moment with a fresh blanket. She took away my food and placed it on the leather couch in a way that it didn't spill. As she began to remove my blanket, I held onto the letter that I had next to me.

Once I had a fresh and new blanket ontop of me, Gu-chan began to giggle. I haven't moved or even blinked after she asked if I was in love. Could that have been what this feeling is? Love?

"I'm right aren't I? You're in love!" she squealed. I felt my face turn even more red at the word "Love". I have heard of the deffinition of love from my older cousin but... I never thought that I would actually experience it. Gu-chan poked at my cheek and with a grin on her face.

"I'm so happy for you miss Rin~!" she sang. Then she hugged me. I began to relax a little bit after a moment. So that's what this is... _Love_. I broke out into a smile.

What a wonderful thing Love is.


	19. The List

#

Days and mounths had passed since we first met. So many letters were in my room. My darkness began to fade. I feel as though my heart is on a swing. When the girl is near, my heart is warm and becomes light. Like when you swing back. But when we have to depart, my heart is cold and becomes heavy. Like when you swing forward, towards the sky.

But I now know that happiness that leaves, comes back tomorrow.

It was one in the morning. I was awaked by screaming. I walked over to the door and slowly peeked outside my room. It was Kaiko-san. She was being pulled by the hair towards my general area by a man in uniforme. Tears were rolling down her face. My eyes widen at the sight of her.  
I hid my head back inside my room once they were close to me.  
I took a deep breath. Once the man was right in front of the entrence to my room, I swung my elbow with all of my stength at the man's face. With a pained scream from him and a startled scream from Kaiko-san, the man collapsed onto the floor. He let go of Kaiko-san hair and she stumbled back and fell to her knees. Kaiko-san held onto her head, shivering in pain. I walked over to her, knelt down and patted her head. She looked up at me with her watery eyes. I gave a comforting smile at her. More tears began to escape. She hugged me and began to cry. I froze. I akwardly placed both of my arms on her back and hugged her.

Once she was done crying I stood up and escorted her to her room. She must have been really scared, because she held my hand the entire way. Once we arrived at her room, I sat down on the cold hard ground. Kaiko-san walked to the other end of the room. I looked over to where she was walking to, and there was worn out sheet. It looked like it has been there forever and could be torn by even the lightest tug. Kaiko-san sat down ontop of the blanket and stared at the ground. I stared at her, ready for her to tell me what happened. After a moment of silence, she looked up at me hesitantly.

"You... Probably wonder what just happened, huh?" she said in a whispher. I nodded.

"Um... You probably haven't heard but..." She looked down again and began to tremble.

"I... It's..." she began. But before she could even continue, tears rolled down her face again. She covered her mouth and began to sob softly. I froze again as I watched her cry. Never have I seen Kaiko-san cry. I didn't know what to do. As I stared at her crying, I remembered one of the minerature letters that the girl had written to me.

_Sometimes I cry. I can't help but let the tears roll down my face._  
_The person I want to comfort me never does. _  
_But after meeting you, I haven't shed a sinlge tear._  
_Kind boy, if someone you care about cries, please comfort them. _  
_If not for them, then do it for me._

I scratched my left cheek with my index finger. I felt myself blush at the thought of the girl. I longed to see her. I had fifteen more hours before I could see her. But, If I keep letting Kaiko-san cry like this; how could I face her? I stood up from the cold ground and walked over next to Kaiko-san. Kaiko-san looked up as I walked next to her. I slowly sat down next to her on the sheet. I akwardly place my arm on her back and began to rub. Kaiko-san looked at me with surprised eyes as I continued to rub her back. I blushed with emberassment and looked away, but contined to rub. Her sobbing had abrubtly stop at the shock of my actions. I glanced back at her and she smiled at me. I quickly looked away and stopped rubbing.

"Thank you Nero-kun" she whisphered. I nodded without looking at her. I removed my hand from her back and looked at her. She stared into my eyes and then sighed as she looked away. Kaiko-san looked miserable.

After a moment of complete silence, Kaiko-san tugged at my sleave. I looked at Kaiko-san with shock and saw her staring ahead. She was trembling.  
I followed her gaze and my eyes widened. Children, men, and women were walking in a line; all chained to each other. I picked up Kaiko-san and quietly dragged her out of their veiw point. After I set her down, I sneaked over to the entrence of the room while keeping myself hidden. There was tape in the form of an x over each of their mouths. As the line slowly contined to walk, I saw _him._

The white haired boy was looking down at the ground and had no life in his eyes. Like a moron, he followed the line.  
A child suddenly fell onto the ground. The white haired boy flinched. The line stopped moving. The child began to make muffled sounds as tears ran down his cheeks. I realized that it was the kid I saved that day of the explosion. I began to stand, but was quickly dragged down. Kaiko-san who I had placed at a distance from me was holding onto my shirt. She shook her head. I looked over to the boy again.

"Is there a problem Piko?" a voice called. I peeked over and saw a man in a lab coat walk up to the white haired boy. The man's coat looked worn out, and he had messy blonde hair. It reminded me of the hair color I once had. The man wore glasses that showed everyone his heavy dark bangs. He looked exhausted.

_So... The white haired boy's name is Piko... _I thought to myself.  
Piko flinched at the sound of the man's voice.

"Um... No sir" Piko replied. I saw his hands tighten into fists. The man adjuseted his glasses.

"Piko, you can not show weakness to the enemy or allies. If someone slows down this line, you teach them a lesson" the man had said calmly. I tensed at his words.

Piko looked over at the boy with guilty eyes. He tightly closed them and took a deep breath. Piko oppened his eyes. There wasn's a hint of life in them.

"Keep moving you piece of filth!" yelled Piko. The kid began to cry muffled tears some more. I gritted my teeth.

"I said keep moving!" Piko yelled again. When the kid sat there, Piko smacked the child with such strength that he went flying into the wall. I stood up again but was quickly dragged down by Kaiko-san. I tried to take her hands off me, but she wouldn't let go. I hated doing nothing.  
Piko walked over to the boy and glared at him.

"_Keep. Moving_" piko said in a low growl. The kid slowly struggled onto it's feet and began to walk. Blood was dripping from the kid's head.  
The man adjusted his glasses and looked at Piko.

"Good job" he said. I glared at the man and at Piko.

How could they be so heartless?

The man walked forward with the rest of the line. Piko stood still for a moment before he followed blindlessly. As Piko walked forward, I saw a single tear run down Piko's face from his empty eyes. But instead of empty, his eyes were filled with guilt. I wanted to punch him so bad. So bad. But Kaiko-san wasn't planning on letting go of my shirt anytime soon. Once the man, Piko, and the line of people vanished into the darkness of the cold hallway; I looked over at Kaiko-san. I felt my eyes fill up with anger. Why didn't she let me go? Kaiko-san looked at me with terrified eyes.

"It's time for shipment gain" she whisphered. My eyes slowly widen. She clentched onto my shirt tighter and stared into my eyes. Her ussual dark blue eyes had turned into a night sky covered with pitch black thunder clouds.

"Nero-kun... I'm on the list"


	20. Forbiden

I slowly opened my eyes. I sat up and rubbed my tired eyes. I looked over to the clock. It was eight in the morning. This was a first. I have always woken up at seven or seven twenty in the morning. As I glanced around the room, I saw Gu-chan sitting on the leather couch.  
She was staring intently at a few pieces of paper.

"Gu-chan...?" I called out sleepily. Gu-chan looked up from her papers and smiled at me with tears in her eyes. She stood up and rushed over to me. I yawned, right as I did Gu-chan hugged me tightly. My eyes grew wide with surprise.

"Gu-chan? What troubles you?" I asked. She was hugging me so tightly that I almost couldn't breathe.

"I'm so glad... You're awake" she said with a trembling voice. I placed my hand on her arm that was wrapped around my neck. She slowly let go of me and stared at me. Tears were escaping her eyes. I tilted my head at her.

"What's wrong?" I asked. She wipped her tears away and sat down next to me.

"Some time while you were sleeping, your heart rate suddenly increased" she replied.

"It did?"

"Yes, it seemed that you were having a terrible nightmare." I put my index finger ontop of my chin and my thumb underneath. I didn't recall having a nightmare. I felt perfectly fine.

"What time did this happen?" I asked.

"About one in the morning" she replied. How strange... I didn't even feel weak. Maybe it's a sign?

After Gu-chan came to the conclusion that I was fine, she got my breakfast and I began my usual day. I had almost never gotten dreams before. Ever since I was a child, I had a dream catcher over my head that my older cousin had made for me. It's been a while since I have seen her. I wonder how she was doing? Maybe I'll stop by later on today before I visit the boy. I began to blush at the thought of him. It has been quite some time after that day we first met. The paper airplanes he has sent me filled up the basket. A few normal sized aiplanes, and a lot of miniture's. Just thinking about him filled me up with happiness. I got out of bed and walked over to the basket. I grabbed one of the normal size airplanes that he had sent me yesterday. It was my favorite one so far. I sat back down on my bed and began to read the letter.

_To the kind girl;_  
_What am I to do with you? _  
_The letter's you have sent to me have practicaly filled up my room. We have sent so many letters to one another, I can't help but treasure each one. _  
_Like the way I have treasured you._  
_The flowers that you take very now and then... Are they well?_  
_Every time I wait for you on the other side of the fence, I watch the flowers gently sawy with the wind. _  
_Kind girl... Are you a flower?_

_-From the kind boy_  
_PS: See you tomorrow_

I smiled at the letter. Am I a flower? The boy had always come up with such deep and confusing questions. I giggled at the question and began to blush. I wonder what he will send me today? Each day became so wonderful and mysterious, I didn't know how to contain myself. I wanted to share my happiness with the whole hospital! No, the whole _world_! I wonder if there's a saying about happiness curing the heart? I have heard once from Gu-chan that saddness can slowly destroy the heart, but have never heard anything in regards to happiness. If happiness could cure my illness, I would leave this place of false light and be with the boy. I began to giggle at myself. What a bold person I have become! Once I stopped giggling, I looked at the letter and held it close to my heart. I wonder if the words I send you are filled with my feelings?

The door suddenly oppened. I flinched at the sudden sound and looked over. It was my father.  
"What is that?" he asked coldly. I gasped and looked at my hands. I didn't hide the letter.

"I... I-It's nothing, sir" I replied. But my father was already next to me and snached the letter from my hands.

"Wait please! Give it back!" I shouted. I reached out for my father's shoulder, but he was to far from me. After a moment, my father's face had turned cold. His eyes turned icy blue and his hands began to tightly hold the letter. I couldn't move.

He turned to me and waved the letter in front of my face.  
"This is what you have been doing?! Sneaking behind my back and talking with a boy?!" he yelled. I flinched at the sound of his voice. It was cold and made my ears sting, like a cold winter day that gave you frostbite. I was able to move again and reached for the letter. But he was too fast and moved it away from me.

"It... I haven't been sneaking behind your back!" I replied. I felt my throat becoming tight. My eyes were begining to sting.

"Lies! It says right here! Everything is said right here!" he yelled. I flinched.

"I have told you once. If I catch your tsts scores even _a number_ less than perfect, I would _not_ be happy!" I flinched and relized that the tests I took recently have been at ninty-five percent. I've droped by five percent. I oppened my mouth to say something but fatherglared at me with his frozen blue eyes.

"This boy... You are forbidin to see him again" he said. And right there, in front of me; father took the letter in his hand and ripped it to pieces. I froze and watched the peices of paper float down to the ground. I felt tears roll down my face, but I didn't make a sound. He turned around and stormed out of my room. As I stared at the peices of paper, I heard my father yell in the hallway.

"Where is Gu-san?!"

"We, uh, d-don't know sir" replied a nurse.

"Well find her and tell her to clean up room 302!"

"Y-Yes sir."

As more tears escaped my eyes, I continued to stare at the paper.

My favorite letter... In pieces.

The once beautiful paper airplane... In pieces.

The words that once soar threw the air... In pieces.

Why did father forbid me to see the boy? Why did his face turn cold? I don't understand...  
I slowly got out of my bed and kneeled next to the paper. The light was fading.

The boy who gave my life worth meaning... His letter was destroyed.

It doesn't matter if it was just a single letter, it might as well be all of them being destroied. I picked up the pieces of paper. I gathered them all into a ball and looked at them with my watery eyes. The light is dim.

In this room where light doesn't shine...

In this room where nothing but false light swirl around... The boy's letters...

They made my future bright. My hands began to tremble. And I began to cry.

Suddenly, my heart stinged. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't stop trembling. I began to cough and gasp. I heared the heart monitor beep fast. The noises around me began to echoh loudly. I heared foot steps run into my room. Nurses... I held onto my ball of paper as I coughed. Two nurses began to lift me onto the bed. They seperated my hands. The paper floated out of my hands. They placed an air mask onto my mouth, told me to take a deep breath. I did as I was told. My coughing came to a slow stop as they removed the air mask. They placed it on my mouth again and I took another deep breath. But the boy suddenly came into my mind.  
He's smiling at me and is holding onto a paper aiplane.

Will I see him today? Or will... My fathers words chain me down.

More tears ran down my face and I began to cough again. The nurses began to hold my arms and legs down. I couldn't stop trembling. It was only for a moment, but I could hear someone cry out.

"Someone find Gumi right now! Miss Rin needs her!"

Gumi...?  
It seems I finally know your name, Gu-chan.


	21. The shop

#

It's two in the afternoon. I had to find Mikuo.

I was still shocked over the fact that... Kaiko-san was on the list.  
I couldn't believe it. Kaiko-san? The perfect little worker? _On the list?_  
It was happening again and Kaiko-san was on the list. I had to find Mikuo and tell him. Mikuo's room was on the lower level of the sleeping corridor. The lower level is the best area in this entire place. There wasn't any cold hard floor you had to sleep on. Your skin would get ruined. Instead of a cold and hard floor, you would get fine wood that gave you frostbite during the winter and cook you as you slept during the summer. You were given a thin futon as a mattress and you would get a thin blanket. It isn't all that comfortable, but it was better than nothing.

After another minuet, it would be break time for ten minuets. I could find him in during that time period. With all the money the _boss_ has been collecting, we have been getting more and more work loads. When it was first discovered, the hole was too small to fit a grown man or women in it. So the children had to work more than the adults did. The hole that was filled with jewels was too high off the ground, the children would cry as they worked. There would be times when they won't work at all because they were to scared. Now, at least fifteen people can fit inside. They would dig out as many jewels as they could. It was a difficult task to do because you had to be extremely careful. The hole wasn't all that big and the jewels could crack if you hit it too hard with your pickaxe. If you swing you pickaxe to high, the person behind you would have the other end stuck on their head. This place has been getting more and more horrible.

A man in a uniform blew on a whistle.  
"Break!" he yelled. All of the people inside the hole slowly climbed their way out and wipe off their sweat with a towel. I dropped my pickaxe on the ground and casually walked out of the room. I couldn't get caught by any man in uniform. Once I was out of the room and saw that there was no one in the hallway, I began to run. I sneak around the corners and stop in my tracks to check the time. I got to the top floor. I was inside the shop's storage closet. Mikuo had told me how to get here once if I was ever in trouble.

It was so strange. There was lots of canned food and uniforms on shelves. I took one of the long sleeved shirts, pants, and shoes that were my size. I also found a pair of silk gloves. I put them on hoping that it will at least help me bled in. I opened the closet door just a smidge and peeked outside with one eye. Men and women in fancy clothing were sitting at tables. Some had food in front of them while others had a cup that had steam coming out from it. I began to drool at the food. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. Everything was so fancy. And shinny. Even a simple slice of an apple seemed more tasty than a normal one. What is this place?

As I glanced around the room, I saw Mikuo. He was writing on a small notepad as a women told him something. He nodded occasionally. Once the woman was done talking, he smiled at her with his perfect teeth and walked away. I wiped the drool of my lips, took another glance in case for a uniformed man, and then opened the door slowly. I closed it behind me and began to walk over to Mikuo. He was smiling at all the women he passed and nodded at the men. As I came closer to him, he noticed me and his eyes widened. I stood where I was and motioned my head over at the closet I had came form. He quickly walked over to me, he did not look happy.

"What in god's name are you doing here Nero?!" he whispered. I singled him to follow me. He gave a small grunt and then nodded. As I began to turn around and head for the door, I felt my hand be pulled. I froze. I slowly looked over and saw two women sitting at a table right next to me with cups in front of them. They looked at least the same age as Mikuo. On had long straight black hair while the other had short curly blonde hair.

"And just who might you be?" the one with black haired ask. I felt a hand place onto my shoulders. It was Mikuo who had a bright smile plastered on his face.

"Why, good afternoon to you ladies" Mikuo said in a cheerful tone.

"Is this a friend of yours Mikuo?" the one with blonde hair asked. I felt both of them staring at me with amusement in their eyes. I felt a chill run down my back.

"This is Nao. he's a friend of mine who tends to take my shift whenever I'm sick" he replied. I gave him a bored expression.  
Nao is actually Mikuo's pet, who's a boy my senior and follows Mikuo everywhere. They're pretty good friends. Mikuo likes him only because he reminds Mikuo of me. Mikuo squeezed my shoulder. I looked back at the girls who were still staring at me.

"How do you do, Nao" said the black haired girl. I felt one of her fingers fiddle with my glove. I blushed with emberessmet and nodded as I looked away. The two girls giggled.

"Would you do us the honnor as to spend some time with us, Nao" asked the blond haired girl.

"Oh, I'm sure he would love to. However, we have to go and Nao is taking a bit of a vacation" replied Mikuo. The girls pouted.

"Do you have to go so soon?" Mikuo smiled at them with a gentle smile.

"Don't worry. I'm still here" he said. I saw their faces blush slightly. I was running out of time. As one of the workers with long purple hair passed by, I grabbed two of his roses that dangled on his chain belt. I gave it to both of the girls and gave them a shy smile. The girls blushed madly making their face turn red. Mikuo bowed slightly as I began to walk over to the door. Once we were inside, I quickly began to take off the shirt, pants, golves, and shoes. Once they were off me, I ran down and dragged Mikuo behind me.


	22. Safe for now

#

After lots of sneaking around and _lots _of running, Mikuo and I had finnaly arived at the entrence of my room. I looked both ways of the hall and entered inside. Mikuo as out of breath and stopped right outside of my room.

"What... the... heck... is... wrong Nero?" he said, gasping for air. I tunrned to face him.

"Mikuo...?" called from inside. Mikuo froze. He looked up and saw me looking at him with a tensed expression on my face. I turned sideways and Mikuo slowly walked into my room. Kaiko-san was sitting over at a corner of the room. She was covered with her blanket and was reading some of the letters the girl had sent me. I flinched when I saw her holding onto one. I quickly walked over to her, took the letter out of her hands, grabbed the rest of the letters, and set them back to where they belonged. As I held onto the letters in my hand, I broke out into a gentle smile. I wanted to see her. I needed to see her smile, her shining eyes, and hear her voice. Too much was going on.

Mikuo froze at the sight of Kaiko-san. I stood next to him as Kaiko-san stood up. He galred at me with terrifiying eyes.  
"Did something happen here last night that I should know about..." he said coldly. I raised a brow at him. How did he know about Kaiko-san being on the list?

"N-Nothing happened like that!" Kaiko-san with a red face. Mikuo quickly relaxed and looked at Kaiko-san with a tensed expression.

"Then what the heck are you doing in _his room?" _The room went silent. Kaiko-san looked at me. Mikuo began to look between me and Kaiko-san.

"...What's going on?" he said slowly. Kaiko-san looked down and held onto the edge of her shirt. Mikuo looked at me with questions brewing in his eyes.

"I... It's shipping season... And..." Kaiko-san hesitantly started. I flinched at the word, "shipping". Mikuo looked at Kaiko-san. His eyes widened. He knew where this was going.

"Oh god... Don't tell me you..." he stuttered. Kaiko-san began to tear up. Mikuo gritted his teeth and looked away from the two of us. His hands curled up into fists that trembled. Kaiko-san covered her mouth as tears fell down her cheeks. After a moment of silence, I walked over to my stack of notecards and picked up a pencil. I began to write a few sentences down. This wasn't for the girl. I had to tell them something.

Once I finished writing, I walked over to them and tugged at Mikuo's sleave. He looked at me with teary eyes and I held up a notecard to him.

"We can't let them take Kaiko-san" Mikuo read. He looked at me with angry eyes.

"I know that stupid! But how are we going to do that?! They have a record of all he people they kill!" he yelled. I placed my index finger over my lips and gave him a stern face. Mikuo grunted at me and then walked inside the room, next to Kaiko-san.

"Mikuo is right. What do you plan to do Nero-kun?" Kaiko-san asked. I held up another notecard to them.

"I'll keep Kaiko-san here in my room" Mikuo read. I saw his face turn into jelousy as he shook his head.

"No way. There is no way." I showed another notecard at them.

"They will be doing the lower level tonight." Kaiko-san looked at me with a confused look.

"How do you know Nero-kun?" she asked. I flinched and looked away. Kaiko-san tilted her head at me. Mikuo placed his hand behind his neck.

"I'll tell you later, okay Kaiko" Mikuo said. "Continue." I showed them another notecard.

"While Kaiko-san staies in my room, I'll be responsible for her food." I showed them the last notecard.

"Until they have gone over everyone on the list, they will start looking for Kaiko-san. When that happenes, we'll help her escape." There was a deadly silence in the room. I could tell that they thought my idea was stupid. Mikuo wanted Kaiko-san to stay. But if she did... They would find her and kill anyone who protected her in the process. Mikuo gritted his teeth. He knew that keeping her here would only create trouble.

"Damn it" he muttered. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I exhailed and looked at Mikuo. He looked at me and ran his hand through his hair.

"Why the... Why does this have to happen again?" he mummbled. I heared a sob. I looked over at Kaiko-san and saw that she was crying. I flinched at the sight of her and walked forward. I akwardly patted her head as she cried.

"Hey, what's wrong? Not feeling well?" Mikuo asked. She shook her head. She looked up at me and smiled while the tears ran down her face.

"You would risk you life... Just to help me..." she stuttered in between her sobbing. I nodded. She hugged me and I saw Mikuo's face turn jelous again. I didn't know why though.

"Thank you... Thank you so much Nero-kun. You're a good friend" she sobbed.

Friend... Was I really a good friend?  
Even though I had these two in my life... I was still surrounded by darkness.  
The only one who was able to bring light into my world...  
I glanced over at my pile of paper airplanes. The only one who brought light into my dark filled world was...  
Her.


	23. Broken Promise

I slowly opened my eyes. I heard the beeping of the heart monitor next to me. There was no air mask over my mouth. I slowly sat up from the bed. I looked around the room and saw no one inside. It was just me inside. I looked around my bed and didn't see the shredded pieces of paper. Someone must have thrown it away... I felt my heart sting. I looked over at the clock. It was two fifteen in the afternoon. I would have to go soon... To see him. My heart felt light at the thought of the boy. I needed to see his face. I needed to read his letters. I rested my eyes and took deep breaths.

I heard a knock on the door. I looked over, hoping it was Gu-chan.  
"Come in" I called. My voice was raspy. I cleared my throat. As the door opened, I began to smile. But the smile slowly disappeared. It wasn't Gu-chan. It was a different nurse.

"Miss Rin, these flowers came in for you" she said. I saw that she was holding a bouquet of daisy's. They probably came from Piko-kun. The nurse walked over to me and gave me the bouquet.

"...Might I ask where Gu-chan is?" I asked as I held onto the bouquet.

"I don't know, ma'am" she replied. I felt my heart sting.

"...What about my father? Does he know about my recent event?"

"No ma'am. He left the hospital moments before it happened." My heart stung even more.

"...Please do not inform him about this. I wouldn't want to give him a bigger burden to endure."

"Yes ma'am." With that, the nurse left.

The room was silent. Nothing but the beeping of the heart monitor and the ticking of the clock. Father doesn't know... He shouldn't know. What good will it do if he only worries more about my well being? He... He ripped up my letter. The only light I had. The only hope I had.  
I... I still can't think badly of him. He was my father. He was the only person I had left in this world. Even my older cousin... She was gone. Died at the age of fourteen. She was two years my senior. That day she died, Gu-chan would comfort me by rubbing my back and gently rocking me back and forth. Just like she would always do when I was a child.

But Gu-chan isn't here.

No one can find her. Where was she? She promised me... Whenever I needed her, she would come. I looked over to the "call nurse" button that was at the side of my bed. I pressed it. I looked out of the door's window. Waiting for Gu-chan to barge into the room.

It has been twenty minuets. It was two thirty five. And still no Gu-chan. The buquete of flowers I held onto are very deliqute. The petal's have began to float off the head. They made a little pool of petals on my blanket. I looked over at the door's window. Not a single strand of green hair in sight. My eyes became blury with tears. I rubbed them away. Gu-chan will come. I looked over at the nurse button again. I pressed it again. I needed Gu-chan. I needed to tell her what my father had done. I needed to cry in her arms as I tell her how much that letter meant to me. I needed her to rub my back like she always did whenever I cried.

I needed her.

I needed father. I especially needed father. I wanted father to apologise for his actions over the years and get some rest. I wanted father to visit me. I wanted him to tell me that I could get over this illness.

That there was hope.

I pressed the button again. My eyes were getting blury again. I wiped the tears away. I pressed the button over and over again. I felt a tear fall down my cheek. I wiped it away. I began to sniffle as I pushed the button. Why isn't she coming? Did something happen to her? Was she okay? I need to know. I looked over at the window covered by the thick white curtains. I placed the buquete down and reached out for the curtains. My father had told me never to open the curtains. When I was a child and saw the other children playing, I asked my father If I could do that too. He said no. I felt another tear run down my cheeks. I slowly slided the curtain just a little bit and looked out with one eye. I couldn't find her. I couldn't find Gu-chan. I felt tears gush down my face. I began to sob. Where was she? How was she? I needed to know. I took my hands and covered my eyes. The tears wouldn't stop. I wanted to talk with her.  
"Gu-chan... Father..." I sobbed. My heart was in pain. I don't care if Gu-chan broke her promise she made with me so long ago. I just needed to know.

I just needed to know if she was alright.  
The next thing I knew, I was engulfed by darkness.


	24. Forgivness and a confession

Day's went by. Each one came with something new. New tubes, medication, new problems. Gu-chan still hasn't been found. It has been a total of five days since I have seen him. Each day, I would look out the window that I had oppened a little. I feel nothing. My heart... Is torn. I don't know anything anymore. My hearing has grown distant. All I know is... That I want to see him. I want to see him so much. I read the letters he has sent me. All of the letters. Every single day. I haven't gotten any sleep lately. I stare out at the door. Waiting. Waiting for Gu-chan to come inside and apologise with tears for her absence. But I haven't seen her. Every night I would cry myself to sleep. My tears have left markings on the corners of my eyes. I haven't moved since that day. I wonder if walking has become difficult...?

My hope is slowly dissapering... I can feel it in the air. The false light has left the room.  
I have been chained down even more than before. The chains hold me down so much, I can't even breath. There's just a dimmer of light left. The light of hope that he has given me.

It has been a while since I have seen Piko-kun. It's been a while since I have seen anyone for that matter. I've been in this room without a single person stop by. Everything is different. My food, my schedual... Everything. I missed Gu-chan so much. I missed having someone to talk to. I missed the boy. How I longed to see him. How I longed for a paper airplane...  
Or a conversation with him. I wonder if I even have a voice...?

"Good morning"  
I let out a scream. Well, that certainly answered my question. I placed my hand over my heart as I looked over to the door. It was Piko-kun. His eyes were so sad and filled with guilt. He smiled as I looked at him.

"I'm sorry for starting you" he said as he walked over to me. I took a deep breath and relaxed.

"No, I apologies. I didn't mean to scream" I replied. He held up a stool.

"One of the nurses gave this to me as they saw me."

"Oh... Yes, I requested it." He gave me a smile. But it felt so emotionless.  
Something was wrong.

Piko-kun setted the stool down and took a seat.  
"I... I'm sorry for not visiting you lately" he said slowly. He must have felt bad.

"Oh no, you must have been busy with your father. I understand" I replied. He flinched as I mentioned his father. He lowered his head and closed his eyes. He looked as horrible as I felt. His usual neat hair was a mess. He had heavy bangs underneath his eyes. I stared at him, confused.

"I'd... Rather not talk about my father right now" he muttered.  
After a moment of silence, I came up with an idea that might cheer us both up.

"Piko-kun, do you know how to make a paper airplane?" I asked. He looked up at me with confused and tired eyes.

"Paper aiplanes? I don't think I have ever made one before" he replied. He was starting to feel better. I could here it in his voice. I was able to break out into a smile.

"Would you like me to teach you?" I asked. He blinked at me for a moment, then smiled.

"I don't see why not."

After a moment of time had passed, Piko-kun finally made a sucessful paper aiplane. It flew beautifully. He looked much better than he did when he entered. He began to smile a lot more and his eyes began to fill with happiness. I was feeling better as well. I had made two paper aiplanes as I taught Piko-kun. Just holding onto my creations made me feel closer to the boy.  
I wanted to see him so bad. And Gu-chan as well. But I wanted to see the boy more.

"You're very good at making these Rin-chan" said Piko-kun. I smiled with a hint of blush at him.

"Oh no, not really. I only know how to make this kind, I don't know how the other types of planes are made" I replied. I was happy at the compliment he had given me. It was the first compliment I have heard in a while.

"You must really like paper airplanes. I could never be this good" Piko-kun said smiling. I giggled.

"All it takes is a little practice silly!" I began. I looked at the paper aiplane I had in my hands. I slowly began to smile gently as I stared at them.

"But, you're correct. I love paper airplanes. More than anything."

Piko-kun raised a brow at me.  
"Might I ask why" he asked. I looked at him and smiled.

"Someone that I really care about made me a paper airplane as a presant once" I replied. I held the airplane close to my heart and closed my eyes.

"Whenever I can't see them, I just take out a sheet of paper and make a paper aiplane. It reminds me of them." I felt Piko-kun staring at me with a slightly surprised look on his face. I oppened my eyes and gently placed the paper airplane down on my lap. I looked at Piko-kun and smiled.

"If you want, you can go on ahead and write something on it" I said to him. Maybe these paper planes can help him express his feelings towards his father.

"What do you mean?" he asked. I took out a pencil I had on my night stand and gave it to him.

"You... You clearly dislike your father. Or at least something he has made you done. You should write it down and throw it in the air. Let you words fly! It might make you feel better, Piko-kun."

Piko-kun stared at me with wide eyes. I smiled at him. I wanted to help him get better. It was the least I could do. I didn't want to see anymore people be upset. I just wanted people to be happy. I just wanted to see the boy again, and I wanted to see Gu-chan again. I wanted to see them with a smile on their faces. Piko-kun looked down at the ground.

"Rin-chan?" he said.

"Yes?" I replied as I tilted my head.

"If... If I had told you that I have done some horrible things... Would you forgive me?"  
I stared at him confused. We were friends. Why _wouldn't_ I forgive him? I gave a bright smile.

"Of course silly! Everyone deserves a second chance and be forgiven." Piko-kun looked up at me. His pupil's shrank at the words I had said. His cheeks began to turn red. He closed his eyes. He oppened his eyes as he leaned forward to me. I felt myself blush a little. Piko-kun was staring so intently into my eyes, that I felt like I was trapped in them. His face became red.

"I... I like you Rin-chan. Ever since I first met you, I liked you" he said, stuttering. My eyes widened. Was he serious? He likes me?

"Um... As a friend or..." I began. Piko-kun held onto my hands and leaned in closer to me. His face was even more red.

"No. In a romanic way. As in _love._" I felt my cheeks turn red. He was so close to me. I could see myself reflected in his eyes.

I flinched as he leaned in even closer to me. I slightly pushed him away, looking down. Piko-kun stared at me, surprised. I drew my hands close over my chest and held one of my hands with the other.

"U-Uh..." I began. "I'm sorry... I... But I don't feel the same way towards you... I'm sorry"  
Piko-kun flinched. His eyes were begining to fill with saddness again. This time though, I couldn't help him.

"...Is it the person who... made you the paper airplane...?" he replied. I nodded.

"I-I'm sorry... You're an amazing person. But... My heart is with them." An akward silence filled the air. I glanced over at Piko-kun. His eyes were mixed wither anger and sadness.

"Let me ask you something" he said softly. I looked at him.

"Do they visit you?" I shook my head a little.

"No... But-"

"Do they bring you flowers?"

"I-In a way, but-"

"Do they speak with you? Listen to you? Look at you?"

"I'm sorry!" I yelled. My eyes were tightly closed. I couldn't stand all the questions.

Piko-kun stared at me. He was in so much pain of being rejected. I didn't know what to do.  
"I'm sorry..." I whisphered. "They have my heart in the palms of their hands..."

"Well... You have _my_ heart in your hands" Piko-kun mumbled. I flinched and looked at him.  
After a moment of silence, Piko-kun spoke again; "Let me say one thing..."  
I slightly tilted my head at him.

"If... If he brings you any sort of pain... Or if he isn't worthy of your heart... I will take it and return it to you" I felt myself blush. I felt horrible. But I loved the boy. Nothing could change that.  
Piko-kun looked down at the ground and after a moment picked up his paper airplane.

"Thank you for teaching me today" he said calmly. I gave a slight nod in reply. He picked up the stool and walked over to the door.  
As he oppened the door, I heard him whispher; "I will always love you, Rin." And walked out, quitely closing the door behind him.

"May you find happiness with someone who can return your feelings... Piko-kun" I whisphered.

And with that, I was alone again


	25. A boys tears

#

It has been six days, and no sight of her. I've been waiting for her like always. But I haven't seen her in six days. My heart has been covered in worry. Was she safe? Was she all right? I needed to know.

It's three fifteen in tha afternoon. I was standing at our ussual place, with my broom at hand. She wasn't here yet. As I waited the wind gently blew on me, making the flowers sway. Images of her instantly pop up in my head as I watch the flowers. The last letter I had sent to her, I asked if she was a flower. It was emberrassing now that I think about it. To put such a question in the letter. I began to smile at the thought of her. I just wanted to see her. With the buisness of Kaiko-san, I could use her smile to tell me that everything was going to be alright. That _she _was alright.

I heard a whistle blow as I continued to keep an eye out for her. Break time must be over. I would ussually be given the okay card if I was a little late because I was outside. They think I'm cleaning. But I had to go back. The uniform men have been more up tight lately. And yesterday when Piko returned from wherever he went, his face was pouring with tears. Of course, none of the workers cared. But maybe its because of the time I have spent with the girl, that I felt a little sorry for him. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I placed my right hand inside my pocket and felt the minerature airplane I had made for her. I oppened my eyes and saw no one walking up the hill. I felt my heart sting at her absence. Then I began to walk back, down the stairs and into the darkness.

As I was walking back to the mine, I cought up with the rest of the people who were on break. We all slowly walked to the mine, like a bunch of brainless buffoons. Up ahead, I saw Piko and a man in uniform looking at a peice of paper. They smmed to be whisphering about something. I looked away from them and continued to walk. "Hey you! Worker number 42" called out the uniformed man. I looked at him and continued to walk with the group.

"Hey! 42! Come here!" I ignored them and continued to walk with the workers. I suddenly felt my shoulder being pushed out of the line, making me land on my side. I squeezed my eyes tight and hugged my side. I slowly oppened one eye and saw that there was another unifromed man. He must have been the one who pushed me. He had a grin on his stupid face. I closed my eyes again and began to stand up. I looked at the unifromed man and Piko.

"We're looking for number 501, Kaiko Shion" Piko began. "Do you know where she is?"

I shook my head abd began to walk back inside the mine. But I felt my shirt be pulled and stumbled backwards. The uniformed man held onto my shirt.

"We're not done yet kid" he growled. I glared at him and shook his hand off me. Piko was staring at me. Like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. After a moment he turned to the man and said, "I need a moment with 42. You are excused." The man looked at him with widened eyes, then grunted with a nod. Then he left the two of us.

What was Piko planning? He looked awful and he wanted to talk with me. Alone? Did he get amnisia or something? He knows how much I hated his guts after what he did back then. If I wasn't so worried about the girl, I would be kicking his butt right now. The girl... I felt my heart sting. Where was she? Was she alright?

"... You're lying" he said. I flinched and came back to reality. He knew I was lying?

"I have a feeling that your hiding worker number 501. The two of you were pretty close." I stared at him with an expressionless face. I didn't know where this was going, and I didn't like where it might lead too. Piko sighed.

"You... are unlike the others" he said hesitantly. I flinched at his words. Now I'm _definitly_ not liking where this is going.

"You and that other friend of yours. Worker number 8, Mikuo Hatsune" he began. "You two... Both of you look out for the other workers. You aren't selfish like so many people here. You save... And your friend feeds." I saw that his hands were tightened up into fists. He was trembling. But what for...?  
Piko closed his eyes for a moment and the oppened them and looked at me strait in the eyes.

"I will tell the other officers that you don't know where number 501 is" he whispered.  
He was letting me off the hook? Why? What were his reasons? And why now?

"Let me inform you though... If they see her here or clues that _showed_ she was here, they will kill you. And your friend too." I froze.

It almost sounded like...  
He knew that Kaiko-san was still here, and that Mikuo was helping.

"That is all. You are excused" he said in a firm voice. I flinched with surprise, and hesitantly nodded. I turned around and began to walk inside the wall. Suddenly I feel a hand on my shoulder. I looked behind me and saw Piko staring into one of my pockets. His eyes were wide and cold. I looked at my pockets and relized that I didn't put the mineture paper airplane away. Piko took the aiplane out of my poket and examined it. I turned to face him and tried to take it back, but he moved away from me. I tried to grab it from the sides and above, but he stared at the aiplane and didn't let me even get close to it.

"This style..." he mumbled. I glared at him. He better not read it. Piko slowly turned towards me, but stopped half way so I couldn't see his face. He was at an angle from me.

"Did... Do you know how to make these..." he asked slowly. I flinched for a moment. Then nodded hesitantly. The next thing I know, I slammed into the ground. My jaw was aching and my ribs felt broken. I squeezed mey eyes in pain. He punched me! He just swung his fist at me and punched me! I placed my hand over my jaw and glared at him. He was going to get it. But before I could even sit up, Piko got ontop of me and began to punch me continuisly in the face. After three hits, I blcoked his punches and punched him back. He grunted as I punched him and he glared at me. I glared right back and punched him again. I heared some of the workers who were walking inside the mine cheer for me.

Piko punched me once more. We were both panting. His left eye that was colored green was dark and had brusies on his face. Before I could throw another punch in, I felt something hit my cheek. Piko's eye were filled with tears, but they barely escaped his eyes. I froze.

"It just has to be _you_!" he yelled. I raised an eye brow as I tried to control my breathing. The crowd went silent as another tear fell on my cheek.

"Damn it... I don't stand a chance..." he softly sobbed.

"What's going on here?!" a voice boomed. I glanced up and saw a unifromed man walk over to us. Piko gritted his teeth at me and got off me. The tears in his eyes vanished.

"Is everything alright here sir" asked the man. Piko stared at me wile panting and flinched. Piko walked over to where the man was. He looked at me.

"...Make sure this one doesn't get any water" Piko said in a cold tone. The man nodded and made way for Piko.

"All of you, **GET TO WORK!**" the man yelled. The workers began to walk back inside the mine and talked about the fight as they did. I slowly sat up and rubbed my face. I turned my head to the right and spitted out blood. Piko can sure throw a punch.

"Sir. In regards to worker 501..." I head the man whispher. I flinched. Was Piko going to bail on me?  
_If he does... _I thought to myself glaring at the ground.

"He didn't know anything. I doubt that he or anyone else has any connections with 501" Piko replied. I began to relax. He really did keep his word.

...Then why did he punch me?


	26. Returned

Two days has passed since Piko-kun visited me. More tubes has been added. I felt myself get a tiny bit weaker each day. Gu-chan still hasn't come back. It seems that... I can't cry anymore. The tears wont come. So much is on my mind. Where was Gu-chan? Is she still alive? How was father? Is he eating? How is... the boy doing? My heart sting at the thought of him. He must hate me now. I haven't seen him in nine days. Did he miss me? Does he still wait for me? Is he suffering like I am? I want to see him. I want to see him so much...  
I want to see his smile...  
I want to see his capturing hazel eyes...  
I want... To hear his voice.  
I especially wanted to hear his voice. Does it sound as gentle as his letters? Or did it sound as handsome as he looked? I want to know.

Especially when...  
When I might not be able to get out of this hospital alive.

It's noon now. I was able to eat most of my lunch. I haven't been feeling all that well to eat. But the nurses say that I have to eat to get my strength back so I can get better. But the food wasn't the same as what Gu-chan would make. A salad doesn't fill up a sick person. A glass of water doesn't fill up a sick person. The nurses have patients to be with, so they can't make me a real meal. They can only make something simple that they can pull out of the fridge. With Gu-chan, it was different. Gu-chan would make something light and filled with love. She would make bowl of moist rice that was seasoned with shredded crisp seaweed on top, a small plate of cubed hamburger meat that sizzled without it being covered grease, a glass of lemon water, and on occasion's she would added two tiny piece from a chocolate bar. But I haven't been able to eat the food of love. I was eating food of order and demands, with a hint of pity.

As I practiced making paper airplanes, which slightly improved my mood each day, I heard a lot of noises outside. On the third floor, nothing ever happened around here. Occasionally there would be a rich patient who would be in labor, but even then it wasn't as noisy as it is now.

"You dare show yourself here?!" I head a women yell. I flinched at the sentence. Could it be...?

"She has been suffering for days! And _now_ you show yourself?!" I couldn't hear the response of the other person, but based on how the lady was yelling; It could only be...

I slowly moved my legs off the bed and placed my feet on the floor. I removed the heart monitor's new pads I had gotten that was able to tell my heart rate more efficiently and placed them next to me. My old heart monitor was very high tech and was able to tell my heart rate after it placed a pad over my chest and scanned my heart. It then knew my average heart rate and compared it with the normal heart rate, giving off complicated numbers. Only Gu-chan understood the numbers. But because she was gone, the nurses took it away and replaced it with the one I have now.

I slowly began to stand up, but almost immediately fell down. I was able to catch myself on the IV stand that stood next to my bed. Using that as a supporter, I slowly wobbled over to the door and opened it. As I opened the door, I heard a sharp smack and a thud. I tried to look over the crowd of nurses who circled around the main source of the commotion. And there I saw them. There was the kind hearted nurse who has been taking care of me for a while with a furious face, and on the ground was...

Gu-chan.

I saw the nurse getting ready to hit Gu-chan again as Gu-chan slowly adjusted her sitting position.  
"Stop! Please don't hurt her!" I shouted. All the nurses who was in the hallway looked my way. Gu-chan looked up at me with eyes that was filled with guilt and sadness.

"Rin..." Gu-chan whisphered. I slowly wobbled over to her and the nurse.

"Miss Rin, you shouldn't be up! You need to get your rest and-" said the nurse. But before she could finish, I looked at her and gave a small, exhosted smile.

"Thank you for your concern about my well fair. But I would like a moment with my personal nurse" I replied. She looked at me with a surprised look on her face, nodded and took a few steps back. I looked over at Gu-chan. She was staring at me with a guilty face. I tensed as I looked at her. I wanted to ask her so many questions. Where were you? Why haven't you come to me when I asked you?

Why did you break our promise?

"I..." she began. Her tears began to water up. She looked down and tightly closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry! I... None of the excuses I have can ever make you forgive me!" I stared at her as she began to clench her hands into fists. So far, I felt like I really could never forgive her. I took a deep breath and asked, "Where were you?" She flinched at the question and she began to tremble. I continued to stare at her.

"I... I was accompanying D.V.Y on his... Neices birthday" she finally stuttered. My eyes widened at what she had said. "D.V.Y" is the nickname that Gu-chan had made for doctor Yumma. None of the other nurses knew who we were talking about and began to exchange glances among themselves.

"Gu-chan..." I said painfully. I didn't understand. Why? Gu-chan covered her eyes and began to cry.

"I'm so sorry! I returned two days after your episode, but I felt so ashamed of what I had done that I couldn't face you!" she sobbed. The nurses and I stared at Gu-chan, I had a painful expression on my face while the nurses looked at her with disgust.

"Does... Am I a terrible person...? For choosing love over you...? I... I broke our nine year old promise..." she softly whimpered. I flinched at her last comment.

I understand now... Gu-chan had loved doctor Yuma all along. It was understandable, together they were the smartest medical people in the entire hospital. With doctor Yuma's knowledge on math being out of this world, and Gu-chan's knowledge of science being more than perfection; they could do anything. Gu-chan continued to cry, sobbing and sniffling as if the world was ending. I took out the IV needle from my arm, which made all the nurses flinch, and I slowly seated myself next to Gu-chan. I turned her body to the side, wrapped my arms around her, and began to rock back and forth. Just like what she has done to me when I was a child. Gu-chan stopped crying and flinched at my actions. I began to rub her back as I rocked her.

"Don't cry Gu-chan... It's alright. I forgive you" I whispered into her ear. Gu-chan's trembling slowly came to a stop as tears continued to silently fall down her cheeks.

"You do...?" she replied softly. I felt my throat clench and ears sting. I closed my eyes and gave a gentle smile.

"Yes, I do. I don't care that you broke our promise..." I felt a tear run down my cheek.

"I'm just so happy that you're all right" I said as another tear fell down my cheek.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw all the nurses with tears in their eyes. I felt my face turn red with embarrassment. I had completely forgotten that they were there. They were all smiling and giving small short laughter as tears filled their eyes. They talked among themselves, saying that I was a saint. I looked at Gu-chan who was also red. She must have forgotten that they were there as well. She looked at me, and in unison; we smiled at each other. Gu-chan began to laugh with the other nurses, as I stopped rocking her. I felt my heart being lifted, as if a great burden has been lifted off me. I felt my heart began to beat. The laughter around me began to echo. My vision became blurry. I felt light headed. I placed my hand on my head. I tried to speak but nothing came out.

Suddenly, I couldn't see or hear anything.  
I was engulfed by darkness.


	27. Escape Dear Friend

#

Two days had passed since Piko and I fought each other. There was still no sight of the girl. I was really beginning to worry. A total of eight days had passed and still no sight of her. Was she alright? Did something happen to her? Was she... still alive? As the days pass, the more my worry grew for her. I wanted to see her so much. The paper airplanes I have made to keep my hopes up, they didn't help me all that much. Her letters still kept my darkness light, but was slowly dimming with their age.

"Nero! Oi, focus!" whispered a voice. I flinched at the voice and realized what I was doing. After the fight with Piko, uniformed men started to search the lower floor for Kiako-san. And last night, they were searching around my area again. It's getting too risky, so it's time for Kaiko-san's escape. It is now about ten o'clock at night. Kaiko-san, Mikuo, and I are taking the route that I had shown them. Mikuo looked at me and waved me over. Since Mikuo is taller than I am, he watches the hallways ahead for any uniformed men. While I swiftly guide Kaiko-san to the exit. There are three tunnels, one leads to the cafe (Mikuo told me what the shop was after I had seen it for myself), another leads to other mines, and the last tunnel leads to the front entrance. We have only one chance at Kaiko-san's escape. The entrance to this place is an empty wasteland. Security camera's are everywhere. They only go off for two minutes at ten thirty. That's when Kaiko-san will escape and be away from danger.

I felt my heart race every time I stopped and waited for Mikuo's signal. It wasn't just me, it was the same with the others. Mikuo would look around nervously and sweat every time he had to look ahead. Kiako-san would hold onto the back of my shirt. She didn't want to leave us, but she knew that she had to. If she didn't and they end up catching her, Mikuo and I will die. Ever since that day when I told Mikuo and Kaiko-san the plan I had for them, they have been getting closer each day. They would talk with each other every night, with slightly crimson cheeks and sit next to each other. Because I would feel so awkward with them, I'd give them some space by keeping watch for the uniformed men. They would have a painful smile as they talked.

Their smiles looked like they were in pain and yet... They looked so peaceful together. But not tonight. Kaiko-san had tears in her eyes, and Mikuo was to tense to talk.

As Kaiko-san and I walked to another corner, I heard something. I stopped in my tracks and Kaiko-san bumped into me. Mikuo stopped and looked behind him to see us standing.

"What are you doing? Come on, let's keep going!" he whispered. I closed my eyes and began to focus into listening. Footsteps. Lot's of them. And chains. I opened my eyes and pulled Kaiko-san over to Mikuo. She stumbled near his chest and for a second both of their faces turned red, but then quickly died as they looked at me. I walked over to the corner we had just walked passed glanced around the area. A little ways in one ot the tunnels, I was able to catch a glimpse of uniformed men and workers walking in chains. They were coming this way.

"Nero!" Mikuo whispered. I placed my index finger over my lips and glared at him. I took a quick glance back at the group of people and then quietly tip-toed my way over to the two. They gave me a confused look, but I gently pushed them instead of answering their question.

After quietly walking two more corners, we finally reached the stairway leading to the field of sand and dirt. The security camera's were down and the area was pitch black. Mikuo sighed with relief and Kaiko-san began to relax a little. I looked up and sky. It was unusually dark tonight. There were no stars in the dark blue night sky. But really far ahead were lights of street lights that shined. With the dark color of the sky and the light from ahead, I felt my heart sting. The girl. The scenery reminded me of her eye's. Now that I think back on it, I should have just given her my name when she asked for it so long ago. It would be nice to hear her call out my name. My heart began to sting even more as I remembered about her absences and my worries returned. I placed one of my hands over my heart and felt my eyes begin to sting as well.

"Hey now, no crying on a job kid!" Mikuo said as he put a lock hold on me.I took his arm off me and glared at him. He smiled at me with a carefree smile. Then we turned serious as we remembered about our situation. I looked over at Kaiko-san. She was looking down at the ground with a sad expression. The time has come for her to leave us. I walked over to her and patted her head. She flinched and looked at me. I scratched my left cheek with my index finger and looked away. I was never good at goodbyes. Kaiko-san gave me a painful smile as tears fell down her face. She suddenly hugged me which almost knocked me off my feet. She sobbed softly on my shoulder. I hugged her back a little and felt her hug get tighter.

Mikuo walked over to us and rested his arm on my head. Kaiko-san looked up at him.

"Alright, lets not turn this into a drama movie" he said softly. I swatted his arm off me and let go of Kaiko-san. I could tell that they wanted a little space so I walked over to a pile of bagged rice. It must be for the cafe. I sat on one of the bags and waited for Mikuo.

Mikuo and Kaiko-san didn't do much. They just stared into each other's eyes and then hugged. After a moment, Mikuo let go off Kaiko-san and walked over to where I was.

"Come on kid... Let's go" he said in a trembling voice. Mikuo was trying so hard not to cry. As Mikuo walked over to the stair way, I looked over at Kaiko-san and made a motion with my hands that made it look as if I was putting on an invisible hat. She nodded, and pulled out a beanie hat that Mikuo found from the cafe, and she put it on her head. It was the best disguise we got. This way she wouldn't be automatically noticed if she was caught by a uniformed man. I turned around and started to follow Mikuo.

Once we were pretty far from the stairs and almost back to our bedrooms, Mikuo looked over at me and gave a slight smile.

"I think Neru would be proud to know that her little bro is so smart" he said to me while rubbing my head. I flinched at the name he mentioned.

Neru... My older sister by three years. She was a shy girl who covered it up by acting rude and by speaking bluntly to others. I looked down as we walked. An awkward silence filled the air. Mikuo was a good friend of Neru. They would often fight, but it was their way of having fun. I flinched and stopped in my tracks. Mikuo stopped after me, looking tense. We exchanged glances and began to run back to Kaiko-san.

If there was one thing that we could hear, it was the sound of a gun being loaded.


	28. Together we part

#

Mikuo and I ran as fast as our legs could take us. We had a feeling that Kaiko-san was in danger. We began to slow down as we heard people talking.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" one said. They sounded like a middle-aged man who smoked. The person he was talking to didn't respond. Mikuo and I slowly peeked out of the dark stair way and to the night sky. It was Kaiko-san with two men who were carrying rifles. They were over at the gate that kept the workers from escaping and outsiders from invading. I tapped Mikuo's shoulder and slowly sneaked our way to the pile of bagged rice I was at earlier.

"I said, who are you and what are you doing here?" the man repeated. They were inching closer to Kaiko-san. She didn't reply. Mikuo gritted his teeth as he watched them.

"Damnit, what should we do?!" he growled. He looked at me with hope in his eyes and waited for some sight of gesture. But for once, I couldn't think of a plan. My mind was mainly focused on the guns and sister. That comment that Mikuo made earlier, it made me think about her. And the guns only make me think more about the event that took place so long ago. I shook my head and looked down. Mikuo flinched at my actions.

"Wha... You don't have a plan?" he whispered. I looked down and glanced at him and then glanced down again. His hands tightened up and he looked back at Kaiko-san. His eyes began to glow with anger, almost turning his eyes red.

"If you can just tell us your name, we won't have to hurt you" said the other man. He seemed more gentle and wiser that the other one. It was too dark to tell their features at a good detail. They walked closer to Kaiko-san, until Kaiko-san backed up into the wired fence that made a soft creaking noise. Mikuo and I flinched. We had to do something. But if we did, then we would die. I gritted my teeth and began to tremble. If we didn't do something, Kaiko-san would harder I try to think of a plan, the more I realized that we were stuck. One way or the other, someone would die tonight. I squinted over at Kaiko-san. I couldn't tell right away, but I think that she's trembling with fear. Mikuo tightened his hands and formed a fist that trembled uncontrollably with anger.

"That's it..." Mikuo growled. Mikuo began to stand up, but I held his arm which made him stop and look down at me.

What was I doing?

Why was I trying to stop Mikuo?

Our whole goal tonight was to have Kaiko-san escape from this place, alive.

Mikuo stared at me with widened eyes. Then he slowly broke into a gentle smile. He kneeled down next to me and placed his hands on my shoulders.

"Sorry kid... But this time I can't do what you tell me to" he said gently. I flinched.

"For the past nine years, I have been watching over you like an older brother. I wanted to make sure that my friend's little brother wasn't going to be all by himself. I don't know if I did a good job or not..." he trailed off. I felt my eyes and throat tighten up. I didn't like where this was going. Mikuo's grip on my shoulders slowly began to tighten.

"I just want you to know something... You are the best little brother any human being on this planet could ask for" He said with a smile. I heard some footsteps from up ahead. I looked over where Kaiko-san was. The men were starting to walk closer to her. I looked back at Mikuo. He was watching her as well. He looked at me and gave a sad smile.

"I'm going to do something pretty stupid. But before I do, let me tell you this" he began. I tilted my head. He smiled at me with crimson cheeks.

"When you love someone... The girl that you've been writing to; you have to break free from Neru." I flinched.

Why was he talking about this now? What was he going to do...?

"I know you blame yourself... But it's no excuse as to seal up your voice. Now that you have someone you love... You better use it. Especially when you might never see them again." I flinched again. Did he know about the girl not showing up recently?

Before I could do a hand gesture and ask what he meant, his face turned serious and his crimson cheeks returned to normal. I saw tears form up in his eyes. I began to tremble. Why was his tears so watery...?

"Now listen well to what I'm about to say" he whispered. I hesitantly nodded.

"I'm going to go over to Kaiko and knock out the guards. When they're out cold, I'm going to help her escape. Now no matter what happens, no matter what happens, I want you to stay right here, behind these bags of rice." My vision started to become blurry. I didn't reply to him. Mikuo gave me one of his famous grins and rubbed my head. Then he stood up and ran straight for the uniformed men. I began to stand and go after him, but he looked over at me and gave me a quick grin. His eyes were screaming, stay there. I flinched at his eye's message and sat back down behind the rice bags. I kept my head up over them and watched Mikuo. He jumped high into the air and landed right on top of the men. They didn't even hear him coming. I sighed as I saw Mikuo stand up uninjured.

"Mikuo!" Kaiko-san said in surprise. Mikuo was facing away from me, but I could tell that he winked at her.

"Hey Kaiko. Missed me?" he said cheerfully. Kaiko-san lightly punched him as tears ran down her face. Mikuo began to tell Kaiko-san instructions that were inaudible to me. She nodded as more tears ran down her face. I glanced around at their surrounding. I flinched. The men Mikuo tackled was starting to get up...!

I began to stand, but felt Mikuo's words hold me down.

No matter what happens, stay hidden behind these bags of rice.

I began to tremble even more and clenched my hands into fists. The men were starting to point their guns at Mikuo and Kaiko-san. Why can't they see them?! I opened my mouth to scream, but quickly closed it as an image of Neru popped into my head. I flinched at the image and trembled more. I had to warn them! I looked around me, and I picked up a rock next to me. I threw it over to Mikuo and Kaiko-san. I ducked behind the rice bags. I peeked out the side of the bags and watched.

The rock landed right on Mikuo's head. He turned around while rubbing his head and flinched. He backed up to the fence next to Kaiko-san.

"Oh, that's not fair" Mikuo said with a grin on his face. I know what he's doing. He is trying to keep Kaiko-san calm by smiling. I flinched once the men were quickly getting on their knees. I tried to take control over my trembling. I hoped that it was too dark for the uniformed men to identify Mikuo. That they wouldn't kill him and only hit him. A punch to the face was better than a bullet.

A sudden gust of wind came over us. I hid behind the bag of rice, squeezed my eyes as sand started to rise from the ground and dance in the wind. I opened one eye and flinched. The lights were on. Our time was up. I peeked over the rice bags and saw Kaiko-san's beanie off her head, flying in the wind. She looked as pale as Piko's hair. I began to tremble again. As the men got to their feet, everything seemed to go in slow motion. Kaiko-san's tears slowly fell to the ground, the sound of rushing wind turned into a soft muffle.

Kaiko-san looked over at Mikuo as more tears ran down her face. He looked at her and smiled. I could hear their whispers.

"Why did you come back?" kaiko-san sobbed softly.

"Nero and I heard these guys guns being loaded" Mikuo replied. Kaiko-san's eyes widened.

"Nero-kun is here too?!" Kaiko-san sobbed as she looked around to find me. I saw her trembling and felt a pain in my heart. Mikuo close his eyes and smiled.

"Don't worry about the kid. I told him not to do anything" he said softly. Kaiko-san looked at him with an angry expression on her face.

"The two of you shouldn't have come back!" she began. "You stupid... Stupid... Fool, you shouldn't have come back..." I felt my throat tighten and my eyes sting. Mikuo moved his hand and grabbed Kaiko-san's hand. He smiled gently at her.

"I have made a lot of promises..." he began. "I made a promise with Neru, Nero's older sister... I made a promise with your brother Kaito... And I made one with you." Mikuo spoke in such a soft and caring voice that I didn't even know existed until now. Kaiko-san stared at Mikuo with crimson cheeks as tears continued to fall.

"Do you remember?" Mikuo asked. Kaiko-san made a small nod. Mikuo closed his eyes as he tightened his grip on Kaiko-san's hand. The wind started to become louder into my ears as the men began to firmly point their guns.

"I promised you that I would protect you..." Mikuo began. He opened his eyes and I flinched as I saw that they were filled with tears. "...'Till the day I die..." he finished smiling. Kaiko-san's face turned red.

The rushing wind came back. I couldn't hear them anymore. I stood up and began to rush over to them, but I suddenly stopped. Above the sand that danced cheerfully with the wind, I saw Mikuo staring straight into my eyes. He smiled at me and mouthed something as a single tear fell down his cheek.

Stay there little brother was what he mouthed to me. My vision became blurry with tears. I heard a gunshot rang out and Mikuo's face disappeared. I flinched and hid behind the bags of rice. I squeezed my eyes shut as I heard Kaiko-san scream in a raspy voice that was filled with sadness and shock. Then another gunshot rang and Kaiko-san's scream abruptly stopped. I covered my mouth with one of my hands and couldn't stop trembling. I did everything I could to hold back the tears that wanted to escape from my eyes. I flinched at the sound of footsteps. I swiftly ran down the stairs and sprinted to my room.

Once I safely arrived to my room, I pushed my back onto the wall. I felt the rocks stab into my back as I began to slowly slide down. I was panting with some sobs in between. I covered my mouth as I tried to take control over my breathing, I felt a tear fall down my cheek. It never occurred to me until now.

Kaiko-san...

Mikuo... Especially Mikuo...

They tried so hard to keep my world light and keep me away from the darkness.

They tried to become my friends.

My family.

And now... They're gone. My world isn't as bright anymore. It was much darker than it was before. I glanced around my room and saw the letters the girl had written to me. Another tear fell down my cheek as I stared at the pile. A sudden image of her smiling face popped into my mind.

That's right... My world wasn't all that dark... Even if it's just a little, I still had some light. The light shined more brighter than Mikuo and Kaiko-san's did. I gave a gentle smile as tears began to run down my cheeks.

At least I... Still had her.


	29. A man from the Devil

Last night, I thought I heard the sound of two gunshots. It was faint but... I am almost certain that their was gunshots. I slowly opened my eyes and felt exhausted. I slowly sat up and looked at my surroundings. I was in my room, sitting on my bed. As I looked around I remembered about the events that happened last night. Gu-chan returned yesterday. I felt my heart being lifted and felt better already. I looked over at the clock. It's now one fifteen. How long have I been asleep?

"Ah! Good morning Miss Rin!"

Startled, I gave a quick yelp and looked to where the voice came from. It was Gu-chan who was smiling gently at me. She was standing over at the window next to my bed. I smiled at her, relieved to have her back.

"Good morning..." I said softly. My voice was unusually soft today. Gu-chan gave a quick sigh and walked over next to me. She leaned close to me and poked my nose.

"You gave me quite the scare yesterday! You nearly passed out while breaking all of your bones!" she shouted with a smirk on her face. I looked at her with an apologetic smile. She took a seat next to me and gently brushed my bangs out of my eyes. Her smile slowly started to turn into a pained expression.

"...Do you..." she began. "...Do you really forgive me...?" I looked at her with surprised eyes and smiled.

"Of course I do" I replied. I felt myself blush a little as a gentle smile formed into my mouth.

"I understand how controlling love can be..." I finished. Gu-chan giggled as she flicked my forehead. I flinched and looked at her confused.

"You sound like an old lady who's been married for years!" she said cheerfully. My face reddened more. I smiled at her and thought about a life with the boy. Just the two of us... Happily married... We would live on a meadow where our kids could run around freely. I blushed some more at my thoughts. But then my face turned cold. I haven't seen the boy in so long. What if he didn't like me anymore? My heart began to pound with a mixture of stinging. I flinched and placed my hand over my heart in pain. My breathing turned into gasps. Gu-chan's eyes widened and looked over at the heart monitor. I could hear the beeping from it fasten as I began to clench my chest.

"Alright, it's ok Rin. Just take a few deep breaths" Gu-chan ordered. I did as she told me, and my heart began to settle. I began to breath normally again. I felt sweat on my face as my vision went back and forth from blurry and then clear. I held onto Gu-chan's arm and lightly squeezed it.

"Gu-chan..." I said softly. She made a soft shushing sound and rubbed my shoulder.

Once I felt better, Gu-chan told me to lie down again and rest. As Gu-chan began to write down the numbers from the heart monitor, I watched her write. After a moment of silence, I asked, "Gu-chan... If you don't see doctor Yumma for a while... Does your heart suddenly become painful?" Gu-chan stopped writing and looked up at me. Her cheeks were a crimson as she blinked a few times at me. I stared at her with a pleading face. I had to confirm something.

"Um... Well... It does in a way. But I see him almost everyday so I haven't experience something like that yet" she replied. I nodded at her response and looked at the ceiling. Gu-chan tilted her head and looked at me confused.

"Gu-chan..." I said softly. She flinched and smiled.

"Yes?" she replied. I turned to look at her.

"Can you... Get me some paper please?" She smiled at me.

"Alright. Do you want a lot like last time?" I gently shook my head.

"No... I just want one sheet." Gu-chan's eyes widened and she nodded. She walked over to the door and opened it. There Gu-chan flinched and let out a small yelp. I turned my head and looked at her. There was someone at the other side of the door.

It was my father.

"Ah! U-Uh, excuse me sir" Gu-chan said flustered. My father stared at her with cold eyes. She gave a shy smile and scratched the back of her head.

"Um... I'm back?" My father let out a small sigh and patted her head.

"Welcome back" he mumbled. Gu-chan gave a big smile and walked past him. My father closed the door after Gu-chan and slowly approached me. He looked at me with emotionless eyes that were dragged down by the heavy bangs under his eyes. I stared at him and waited for him to speak. After a moment of silence, I realized that I had to sit up before he could say what he wanted to say. I slowly sat up and looked at him. He closed his eyes and and readjusted his tie. I looked down at my hands and began to rub them together.

"I have been informed that you have been making paper planes everyday" he said suddenly. I jumped a little at his sudden words and looked at him. He was waiting for a response.

"...Yes... Is there a problem?" I said softly. He rubbed his face with the palm of his hand, as if he was annoyed. He crossed his arms and gave me a stern look.

"I thought I had forbid you to see the boy that you made paper airplanes for" he said coldly.

"You did sir..." I replied.

"And?" he said impatiently

"I haven't seen him for a total of nine days sir..." My father stared at me for a while before he uncrossed his arms and closed his eyes. He opened them again and said, "Good. Because if you even think about doing so any time soon, I will personally deal with you." I flinched and looked at him. His eyes had nothing in them.

No sympathy.

No pity.

No knowledge.

He turned around and began to walk towards the door. I held my hands tightly and closed my eyes.

"I... I have to see him" I said softly. I glanced at my father's back to see his reaction. He froze in his tracks. He turned his head and looked at me with a little bit of life in life in his eyes. But they were filled with anger.

He turned around and walked towards me.

"I beg your pardon?" he said coldly. I flinched and glanced back at my hands.

"I... I said that... I need to see him" I said trembling.

"Him?" my father said with a serious tone. He sounded furious. I nodded. "You dare disobey your father?"

"I do sir..." I turned to look at him and felt my blood turn cold.

"But only this once! Never shall I dis-" I began. But before I could finish, my father glared at me. "I have said that you shall not see this mysterious boy again! Must I clerify everything for you?!" he roared. I flinched and felt tears rise up to my eyes. But I held them back and squeezed my hands.

"Under no circumstance may you see that boy!" my father roared again.

"But father!" I screamed.

"Don't father me, young lady! I shall say it again; under no circumstance may you see that boy!" I squeeze my eyes shut.

"It's just this one time fa- sir! Never again shall I disobey you! Please! Just this once!" I screamed. I felt my arm suddenly be grabbed by a strong force. I opened my eyes and saw my father staring at me. Anger filled his eyes.

"How many times must I say it to you?! Under** no** circumstance-" he began. His grip on my arm strengthened and I shrieked in pain.

This man is not my father. He would never be so violent with me. I felt tears run down my face. I heard the heart monitor beeping faster and faster.

"Let go of me!" I sobbed. He shook my arm and glared at me even harder.

"Look at you! Disobeying me left and right! This boy is a bad influence on you!" he roared coldly.

"Apologize to me this instant!" he said while shaking me even more. I felt more tears fall down my face as I shook my head.

"**Apologize!**" I shook my head again. My arm felt like it was going to break. His glare turned deadly. His pupils shrank to a speck and a vain began to pop out of his jaw.

I didn't know who this man was.

His eyes were much colder and very different from the father I know and love.

This man is a being from the devil. Not my father.

"I forbid you to see or even think about him!" he roared.

"You can't forbid a thought as long as the brain works! You don't have enough power to do that!" His eyes twitched and raised his other hand. I flinched and covered my head.

"Sir!" a familiar voice shouted

I opened an eye and saw my father staring at me with wide eyes, and Gu-chan staring at him with shock. He slowly let go of my arm and stared at me with eyes that seemed familiar. He seems shocked at what had just happened. As if he was in a nightmare he couldn't awake from.

Gu-chan stomped in front of me and faced my father who stumbled back a little.

"Were you about to hit your sick daughter?" Gu-chan said with a shocked tone. After he stared at Gu-chan and I with shocked eyes, he blinked a few times. He then stared at me with emotionless eyes again. He narrowed his eyes with a pained expression and turned around, heading for the door. He stopped right in front of it before he exited the room.

"...Let me reiterate..." he began softly. "...I forbid you of going anywhere near your mysterious boy." And left, the door softly closing behind him.

Gu-chan turned around and examined me.

"Are you alright miss Rin?" she asked with a panic tone. As more tears fall down my face, I placed one hand on the arm that my father had held onto. Gu-chan reached to my arm and gently felt the bone structure. I flinched as she reached near the wrist. Gu-chan then began to turn and examine my wrist. As I closed my eyes in pain, Gu-chan sighed with relief.

"It's not broken by what I can tell. Just bruised or sprained" she said softly. I opened my eyes and looked at Gu-chan. She gave me a gentle smile. She softly wiped away my tears with her fingers and then dried my face with a piece of tissue paper. The heart monitor's beeping returned to normal and all was right in the room. Gu-chan, the sound of a clock, the heart monitor's beeping, a vase with my beloved flowers that I collected every time I visited the boy, and finally; me. Gu-chan handed me a piece of paper, like I had requested.

"Thank you..." I said softly. She smiled and rubbed my head. Then she gave me a pencil to write with and left the room. I stared at the paper and pencil. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

I had to do this. I can't burden him any longer.

I slowly opened my eyes and began to write my final letter to the boy.

It is now two thirty. My letter is finished and I had folded it into a paper airplane. I closed my eyes in pain. This was for the best. This way he... He won't have to worry about me. I felt a tear run down my cheek. I opened my eyes and quickly wiped it away as I sniffled. I took a deep breath and calmed my breathing. I looked out the little window on the door at the nurses station. No one was there. I looked down at my arm and removed all the tubes that were on me. I have never noticed until now. I had at least four IV needles stuck on the veins of my arms and legs. I had Gu-chan's special heart monitor pads over my chest and below my heart. I slowly moved my legs off the bed and placed my feet on the floor. I could feel myself shaking.

I didn't want to go. I didn't want to... Say goodbye.

I closed my eyes again and took a deep breath. I began to lift my body off the bed and stand up. Once I was standing, I lowered the volume of the heart monitor and walked over to the other side of the bed where I hid my letters and clothing so long ago. I knelt down and opened the basket. I had a huge pile of paper airplanes. It practically overflowed out of the basket. I swallowed and gently removed the letters, getting my clothes. After I changed I put all the letters back inside the basket and stood up. I took a deep breath and walked over to the door. I made sure no one was watching me before I began to walk out. As I walked down the hallways and passed people who didn't know me, I quickened my pace and began to run down the halls. I tightly held onto my paper airplane as I ran.

As I passed the horrible noise of people, I saw heavy rain clouds form above. I stared up into the sky and felt my heart sting. I place a hand on my chest and took a deep breath.

I couldn't turn back now. I began to walk to where he was, plastering a fake smile on my face.

I will lift this burden of worry of your shoulders.

So... I shall hide these tears for you.


	30. Neru

#

This morning, people have been keeping their distance from me. Workers have been giving me looks of pity, disgust, and hope as they stare at me. I hear them whispering among themselves.  
"Did you hear? The kid seen Mikuo-san's death"  
"Little brat. Why didn't he do something to stop it?"  
"Don't you know? Some say that the Kid kill them. Mikuo-san _and _Kaiko-san."  
"He was close with Mikuo-san... Maybe he will be the one to free us...?"  
"What can a child do to motivate hundreds of workers? Cry? Yeah right, like that will work."

As I worked, ignoring the comments the workers made at me; I began to remember the events that day. Whispers similar to these one's happened right after that day.

* * *

-9 years ago-

It all started when the land was fist captured. I was only five at the time. My older sister, Neru, was eight. Back then, I was often talking and asking questions. On our first day of work, I asked a uniformed man why I had to do this. He got annoied with me that he hit me with the back of his gun, leaving a scar.  
"It wasn't my fault! I just asked a question" I told Neru at dinner.

Neru looked like me but taller, longer hair, and well... She was a girl. We had the same hair color, eyes, and same skin color. She would wear her hair high on the side of her head. Not in the back or on top of her head, but to the side. Neru pinched my cheek and gritted her teeth at me.  
"I don't care if you said hello to him! I told you to do what the men said!" she said in an annoied tone. She let go of my cheek and went bak to eating her bread. I tilted my head and adjusted my badage over the fresh wound the man gave me earlier that day.  
"Why can't I even say hello to them?" I asked. Neru sighed and looked at me.  
"Because if you do they'll hit you again like they did today" she replied.  
"Don't mess with your bandage. Leave it alone."

I stopped fixing my bandage and ate my bread. Neru swollowed the peice she was chewing and stared at the group of kids sitting together two tables in front of us. I looked at her and then back at the kids.  
"Do you see a friend over there?" I asked. She flinched and took another bite of her bread.  
"No shtufid" she replied with her mouth full. "Friends are for sissy's." I looked back over at the children and saw some of the younger ones look happy as they chatted among themselfs. I stared at them for a bit.  
"Then am I a sissy for wanting friends?" I asked. Neru shook her head and swollowed.  
"It's ok to have friends Nero" she replied. I looked at her confused.  
"But you just said-"  
"I meant that _wrong_ friends are for sissys!"

The next day as I skipped over to my working station with Neru, I spotted the man from yesterday. I stared at him and then walked over to him.  
"Move it! You have a busy day today, get it done!" he yelled. I tugged at his shirt. He looked down at me and flinched as he saw me.  
"Sorry for bugging you yesterday mister" I said. The man stared at me with a surprised look on his face. But it quickly dissapered and then he slapped my hand off his shirt.  
"Get to work kid!" he yelled. I flinched and ran over to Neru.

As Neru and I worked, our hands became covered with blisters and they ached for swinging the pickaxe to much. Neru would shake her hands a little and then start working again. I watched her and did the same thing. After a little bit, a rock fell on my head. I stopped working and rubbed my head.  
"Sorry 'bout that! Did I hit you?"  
I looked over and saw a boy walk over to me, smiling apologeticly. I picked up the rock that hit me and walked over to him. Once we were standing face to face, I stretched out my hand.  
"Here's your rock back" I said. The kid chuckled a little and took the rock.  
"What's so fuuny?" I asked. He smiled at me again and shook his head.  
"Nothing. Thanks for giving back the rock" he replied. Then walked off.

I walked back to where Neru was and saw a uniformed man standing next to her. She was on the ground and the man had a gun in his hand. I flinched and ran over to them.  
"Leave my sister alone!" I shouted. I stood in front of Neru and glared at the man. He grunted and then began to smirk.  
"You're related to this rude little imp?" he said mockingly. I stared at him.  
"What's an imp?" I asked. The man laughed and knelt down in front of me.  
"Think of an imp as _trash_" he replied. I flinched and glared at him.  
"Well then your a mean imp that's smellier and uglier!" I said to him. He twitched at my insult and raised his hand.

"Nero, stop."  
I turned around and saw Neru standing up with a red mark on her cheek.  
"But he called you t-" I began. But Neru pulled on my arm and shook her head at me. She looked up at the man and stared at him.  
"It doesn't matter what he calls me-" she began. Then she pointed at him with a smirk on her face. "-He will always look like an old, bald, fat man." The man flinched and glare at us. People must have been listening because a few kids and adults began to laugh at Neru's insult. The man turned red and stood up.  
"You two shall go without any dinner!" he yelled. Neru stopped pointing and picked up her pickaxe.

I watched the man scurry out of the room. Just before he left, the kid I talked to earlier threw a rock at the man. I gasped at what he did. The man turned around and shouted, "Who thre this rock?!" The kid turned pale and looked away. I picked up a rock and threw it at the man. He looked over at me.  
"Was it you?" he shouted. I put a finger from both hands inside my mouth, streched my mouth, and began to stick my tongue out at him.  
"Of course it wasn't! Maybe it's that old imp that's haunting you!" I called out. The man glared at me and threw the rock down on the ground.  
"You won't get dinner tomorrow night either!" he yelled. Then he turned around and left the room. Neru punched my shoulder and gestured me to my pickaxe. I sighed, then picked it up and began to work.

"Neru, I'm hungary" I complained at dinner. Neru rested her head on her left hand and watched people eat.  
"Well, tonight and tomorrow night you're going to have to deal with it" she replied. I rested my chin on the table and pouted. We watched the kids eat at the other table like last time. I began to wonder what a friend was like. Were they like brothers and sisters? Were they like a pet? What is a friend anyways?  
Just as I started coming up with theroy's of what a friend would be like, I felt the table shake. I looked over at the other end of the table and saw the kid from earlier. He stood on the steats and began to walk over to us.

I nugged Neru's arm and she looked at me, then over to the boy. As he walked, I saw that he had bread in his hand. Once he was just in front of us, he sat down which made the table bounce. I stared at him as he smiled at me. He looked down and tore his bread in half.  
He the reached his arm out and handed on half of it to me.  
"Why are you giving this to me?" I asked as I stared at the bread. He smiled.  
"It's my way of saying thanks for earlier. I didn't know what I would have done if I got in trouble" he replied. I smiled at him and took the bread. Before I shoved it all in my mouth, I broke the bread in half. I gave the bigger peice to Neru. Neru blushed for a moment then took the bread.

"So what's your name?" I said as I looked back at the boy. He smiled and ponuded his chest once.  
"My name is Mikuo Hatsune!" he said proudly. Neru and I stared at him with a bored expression on our faces. He gave a smile that showed his white teeth.  
"Well, my name's Nero Akita. This is my big sister, Neru" I said to him as I jerked my thumb over at Neru. She looked at me then at him and nodded.  
"Nice to meet you Nero and Neru!" the boy said cheerfuly.

The three of us started to eat our bread. It was silent as we ate. Mikuo must have felt akward by the silence because after a moment, he looked at me and asked, "How old are you Nero?" I looked at him and swolloed my food.  
"Five" I replied. Then I dove back into my bread. Mikuo began to chuckle.  
"Five? I'm older than you!" he said cheerfuly. I didn't understand why it was so funny. It's just a number. The boy's cheek's went a little red as he smiled at Neru and I.  
"Can I be your friend?" he asked. Neru and I flinched at his sudden request. I exchanged glances with Neru and looked back at Mikuo. he was obviously a good guy so it would be ok. I wouldn't become a sissy. I nodded and Mikuo smiled even more.

"You smile too much. You're like the cheshire cat" Neru said to Mikuo. I began to laugh as Mikuo looked at Neru like the world was ending.  
"I'm not a cat!" Mikuo replied. I laughter began to die down and I watched Neru.  
"Well you should stop smiling so much. Don't you know that people who show only one expression are boirng" she said as she ate the last peice of her bread. Mikuo flinched at her words.  
"Well didn't you know that it's mean to be so rude?" he replied with an angery face.  
"I'm not being rude. It's called honesty"  
"What do you know about honesty? What are you, fifty?"  
"Hey, I'm eight for your infomration!"  
"Eight?! Jeeze, your old! I'm seven!"  
"O-Old?! I'm just a year older than you!"

As I watched the two of them argue while eating, I noticed that Neru's mask was coming off. Instead of keeping a strait face like she normaly did around people, she was actually smiling and frowning. I smiled at the fact that Neru and I made a new friend.

As the first year passed by, Neru started getting the blame for everything I did.  
I would talk rather than work. Instead of getting pnished, Neru would sheild me and say, "He's just a kid". As the day's went by, Mikuo and Neru became closer friends with each argument. Neru would be too tired to let the arguments last long, making Mikuo call her an old hag. One night during the summer, I woke up to a kick to the stomach. I coffed and ran up to Neru who yelled at the unifomred man saying that was unnecassary. The man grabbed Neru's arm and pulled my shirt as we walked to a place I haven't been to before. It was another mine that had a lot more space. In the middle of the mine was a cart that was ontop of railings. When Neru saw it she flinched and began to look scared. I held her hand as we continued to walk.

I saw Mikuo over at the side watching people hug and hop into the cart. I called out to him and he flinched at my voice. Once he saw us, he gave a big smile and waved us over. It was only for a moment, but he looked terrified at first.  
"What's going on Mikuo?" I asked. He shrugged and pointed to the cart.  
"All I know is that some people get to ride on that thing" he replied.  
It looked so cool. I envied the people who get to ride it. Neru held onto my hand tighter. I flinched and looked at her. She was staring at me with a pale face.  
"Sis?" I said to her. She gasped and smiled at me with a pained expression.

As people started to get onto the cart, Mikuo and Neru became really quite. While I on the other hand, pouted at the fact that I couldn't get on the ride. Where did it go? Was it a rollar coaster ride? Was it like the one My mother showed me once in a picture? After a moment, a unifromed man walked up to the three of us.  
"Worker number 42. Get in the cart" he said bluntly. I light up and began to walk over to the ride. But Neru pulled me back.  
"Wait!" she called out. I looked at her and gave her a confused look.  
"What is it? Do you want to ride first?" I asked. She looked pale and started to tremble. She closed her eyes and then looked at the unifromed man. The man grunted and gave a nod. Then he walked away and blew onto a whistle that hung around his neck. In response, another unifromed man who carried a clipboard, walked up to him.

Neru kneeled in front of me and placed her hands ontop of my shoulders.  
"Okay Nero... I'm going to ride fist" she told me. I smiled at her. She lightly shook my shoulders and my smile faded away. I tilted my head. She seemed upset  
"But I want you to do something for me while I'm on the ride" she said softly. I nodded. Was she going to give me chores?  
"First of all-" she began. "-I wan't you to do what Mikuo tells you to do." Mikuo who stood next to me and flinched. Neru looked up at Mikuo. I looked behind me and looked at him as well. After a moment, he nodded at Neru. I looked over at Neru again.  
"Second of all... I want you to stop talking." I flinched. Before I could ask her why, she coninued to talk.  
"That voice of your's is getting you into too much trouble. And since I'll be on the ride, I can't get you out of trouble. So don't talk okay?" I looked at her confused and then nodded. She smiled with tears in her eyes and hugged me. I hugged he back.

As she let go of me and hopped into the cart, I waved bye. I looked over at Mikuo. His face was soaked in tears. I jabbed him in the stomcah with me elbow and he grunnted.  
"Don't cry Mikuo! We can have a chance to ride it when they come back!" I said with a smile. He stared at me and gave a small smile. He placed his hand on my shoulder and waved at Neru. Neru waved back with a smile. As the cart started to move, a small tunnle became vissable as the cart filled with people slowly entered. I looked around and saw a boy with white hair in a unifrom watch the people enter the tunnle. A man in the uniform held out some sort of remote to the white haired boy. The white haired boy looked at the man and then looked down at the remote. I looked over to where the cart was entering. It was silent in the room. I saw Neru and smiled while waving at her.  
"Come back soon!" I called out. My loud voice echod throught the room and everyone jumped. The white haird boy jumped and pushed a button he didn't mean to. His face went white.

Mikuo shook my shoulder, telling me to be quiet. I looked at him confused and heard sudden screams. I looked over and saw the tunnle turn orange red. The people in the cart vanished into the orange and red light. I saw Neru look at me with wide eyes and tears running down her face. People tried to get out of the cart, but they were chained to it. I felt something in my stomcah. Each time someone entered the orange and red light, the red would become brighter and bigger. Mikuo covered my ears and turned my head somewhere away.

I felt sick. I looked at the other people and saw them on their knee's, crying. Some people ran to the people in th cart but was cut off by unifromed men. I didn't know what was happening. But people were crying. Even Mikuo. I caught a glimpse of the white haired boy again. He looked pale as he dropped the remote onto the ground. I felt something inside me turn. I felt tears run down my face, even though I didn't understand why. The white haired boy... the remote... the sudden orange and red light... They were all contected somehow.  
I took one final look at where the cart should have been, and saw no cart.  
No people.  
No Neru.  
Just a red trail of liquid. I looked back and forth, at the now red light and the white haired boy.  
_He did it... I can't see Neru... And that boy is the reason why!_ I thought. Mikuo's grip on my shoulder tighten. I saw everyone staring at me, like I was the bad guy. Afer a moment I relized... If I hadn't spoken so suddenly like I did... Then the white haired boy wouldn't have been startled and pressed the button. It was because I spoke when I shouldn't have...

I felt tears run down my face. I placed both of my hands on my neck and began to choke myself. Mikuo stopped me held my arms away from my throat.  
"Nero, what in _god's_ name are you doing?!" he screamed. I began to struggle and screamed. More tears fell down my face and I tried harder to escape from Mikuo's grip. Once I was out, I began to choke myself again. Mikuo stopped me once again and smacked me across the face, making me fall to the ground.  
"Nero! Knock it off! What are you doing?!" he screamed. I oppened my mouth and nothing came out. I tried as hard as I could to scream, and nothing came out.  
After a moment, Mikuo looked at me wide eyed.  
"Nero... Don't tell me, you..." Mikuo began. I looked up at him with my hands over my throat. My face was soaked with tears. I couldn't speak. I gave Mikuo a small smile.  
This way... I won't hurt anyone like I had done to all those people...

And Neru.


	31. Treatment, Determine Eyes, & Her Return

#

A/N: To old fans of this story, I just want to say apologize with the ounce of my soul for not updating this story. This story has been done for a long time actually and is being turned into a visual novel with a different perspective and overall plot. If you have been _dying_ to receive another update for a long time on this story, send me a PM and I'll send you an early copy of the visual novel when it's finished as an apology! (TT v TT) You can check out the visual novel in " eternal-phantoms"

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It was two thirty in the afternoon. I walked over to my room and sat down on the cold hard floor. I placed a hand over my left shoulder and winced in pain. During break, a man "accidentally" hit me with a hammer. I'm surprised that my arm wasn't broken. It hurt a lot though. I began to slowly rotate my arm. I hissed in pain as I did so. People have been bumping me to the ground, hitting me, and spitting at my face all day. Just like that time so long ago. Except worse, now that I'm not protected by Mikuo. I sighed at the thought of last night.

If I had warned Mikuo... If I had screamed to warn him, he would have knocked out the guards. I squeezed my eyes closed.  
"If" wasn't going to help me now. I had failed to save Mikuo, and failed to help Kaiko-san escape.

As I gently messaged my shoulder, I flinched at the sound of footsteps. In front of my room was Piko. My eyes widened as I stared at him. He was holding some sort of box. After a moment, Piko walked over to me and sat down in front of me.

"Take off your shirt" he said bluntly. My head jerked back and I looked at him, disgusted. His face turned red and he gritted his teeth.

"Not like that, you sicko!" he shouted. He showed me the box he was holding. My eyes widened with surprise. It was a first aid kit.

"I'm going to treat you injury's" he said with an annoyed expression. After a moment of suspicious stares, I took off my shirt while wincing at the pain. Piko opened the first aid box and examined my injuries. As he examined my chest, he tilted his head to the side and his eyes narrowed. I stared at him in disgust again. He noticed my staring and his face turned red.

"Don't look at me like that!" he shouted. He mumbled to himself as he began to take out some bandages. He threw a packet to my face.

"Put that on your wounds" he said in a calm tone. I looked at it and read the label. _Antibiotic_. I gave it a bored expression. How would this help me exactly? I thought this stops infection, not aching muscles. Piko flicked me forehead. I glared at him and he glared right back.

"Don't question my method. Just put the stupid stuff on" he ordered me. I looked back at the packet and let out a sigh. I opened it and began to rub the clear gel on my wounds. I was beyond uncomfortable. Once I was done rubbing, Piko started to cover areas of my chest with white soft cotton squares. Then he taped it with the tape he found in the kit. I winced in pain as he placed the cotton on my injuries. Why was he treating me? I hate him, and he had recently shown that he hated me for something. What was this kid's plan? After a moment of silence, Piko stopped and leaned back to examine my chest again.

"...I saw" he began. I looked at him with confusion. "What happened. Last night, I saw it." I flinched. Piko saw it... All of it?

"I was in charge of the cameras. And when I arrived, I saw worker number 8 and 501..." He looked down and started to unroll some type of bandage.

"Sorry for your loss..." he muttered. I stared at him in astonishment. Why was he saying such kind words to me? Is there some type of trick he has up his sleeve? Piko took the bandages and placed it on my shoulder. He pressed it along my chest and under my arm. Then, trying to avoid as much awkwardness as he could, he grabbed the roll from behind my back and rolled the bandaged back to my shoulder. He repeated this process for a while until he broke the silence and said; "You're probably wondering why I'm helping you." I hesitantly nodded in reply. Once the bandage ended at my side, he took some sort of clip and clipped the bandage together. He quickly backed away from me and sat straight as he did earlier.

"To be honest..." he began. He took my shirt and tossed it to me. "...I've had enough." I looked at him as I put my shirt back on. His eyes that were normally empty, were filled with determination and hatred. He closed the first aid kit and stood up. He looked down at me and gave a serious expression.

"It's about time... That you all have your freedom again" he said with a cold, low growl. I flinched at his sentence. What did he mean by that? What was he planing to do...? Before I could give him a confused expression, he turned and walked to the entrance of my room.

"...She once told me that people deserve a second chance and be forgiven" he began. I raised a brow in confusion. Who's _she_? He glanced over at me.  
"I trust that you won't say anything about this to anyone...?" he asked. I nodded furiously. He smirked and walked out.  
_What a strange guy_ I thought.

After a moment or so of resting, I heard laughter out in the hall. Three o' clock. Everyday at three, the young kids get to go outside and get some rest. The kids would ussually go to the shop and watch people enter and exit the cafe. While others would go and drink water from the pond. Neru and I would wash our face and hands with the pond water instead of drink it back then. I closed my eyes and slowly stood up. I walked over to the broom and stared at it. My heart ached. It's been nine days... Something was wrong with the girl. I took a deep breath and took the broom. I still wait for her at the same spot. From three to four fifteen, everyday I would wait. She probably won't come again today... But nether the less, I still wait for her. I clenched onto the broom and closed my eyes. She's still alive. I have to believe in that. It... It's the only thing that keeps me going.

As I walked to the usual stair way that lead to our usual place, I looked up and saw dark gray clouds form in the sky. It will rain probably today. I sighed and began to walk up the stairs. I stared at the ground as I walked. Once half of my body was outside, wind started to blow gusts. I shivered at the cold winds. I looked up and my eyes widened. Up ahead... At the top of the hill... I saw a familiar white sun hat slowly bob up and down, climbing the hill.

I froze and watched the hat show a familiar face...  
Then a familiar dress...

Then finally... Her.


	32. A Fake Smile

I flinched as I saw him. The boy was half way out of the stair way and looked at me with widened eyes. I felt my face blush. I felt better just looking at you now. I began to run towards you, but I quickly stopped myself. I bit my lower lip.

If I run to him... Then my time with him would shorten.

I took a deep breath and slowly walked towards the boy. He ran up to the fence and stared at me. I smiled as I walked towards him. I clenched onto my shawl to make sure I didn't cry. Once I stood where I usually did, the boy stared at me with watery eyes. I flinched at him. Tears started to run down his face as he continued to stare at me. My heart throbbed as I watched each tear slowly fall down his face. All this time... I have made him worry...

"Good... Good afternoon" I said softly. The boy flinched at the sound of my voice. "I'm sorry... For not visiting you recently..." My vision began to become blurry. The boy shook his head furiously. I blinked a few times at him in confusion. He smiled sweetly at me as the tears continued to run down his face. I blushed with a pained expression. His eyes screamed a message.

_I'm just glad your alright _they said. I flinched at stared at him with a pained look. I looked down and closed my eyes. I wanted to burst into tears right now. This boy forgave me... Forgave me for not visiting him. I gripped even tighter onto my shawl. I couldn't cry. I had to smile. If I cried... Then he would become even more worried. That would defeat my whole purpose in coming here. I looked at him and gave a fake smile at him. He flinched as he saw my smile. Could he see through the mask...? I gulped and showed him the letter I had in my hand.

"This... This is for you" I said softly but cheerful. The boy wiped his tears off his face with his shirt and backed up from the fence. Once he was ready, I threw my paper airplane over the wired fence. Once the boy caught it, I felt my heart throb even more. I ignored it and took a deep breath. The boy looked at the letter and smiled at me. I gulped back my tears and gave another fake smile.

"Can you... Read it now...?" I said softly. The boy gave me a confused look. What was I doing? If he reads it later, then I wouldn't have to see his face. So that I couldn't see his eyes of beautiful hazel... Become filled with confusion and sadness.

"It... I just think that... It would be more proper..." I said softly. My voice was trembling. I gulped my tears back again and gave another fake smile. The boy's eyes widened. He began to open the letter while staring at me.

"I... I just..." I began. My voice couldn't stop trembling. "It's almost summer so... I... I had a wonderful time with you and..." The boy flinched at my words. He still didn't read the letter. I was at the brink of crying. I had to finish this. I gave another fake smile and tilted my head.

"Maybe I'll see you again..." I said softly. I turned around and began to walk back towards the hill.

"Um... We... I, that is..." I stuttered. I squeezed my eyes and cleared my throat.

"Goodbye" I whispered. And I began to slowly walk to the hill.

With a fake smile plastered on my face.


	33. Words

#

I had no idea what was going on. The girl finally comes back and... She has a fake smile plastered on her face. Why? Why did she look like she was in so much pain? What did she mean about the fall? She threw me a paper airplane, but she didn't smile when I caught it. Something was wrong. And now... She's walking away from me. I quickly read the letter she tossed to me.

_To the kind boy;_  
_I'm sorry. I just want to get that out of the way right now. I'm so sorry. _  
_Recently I haven't been able to visit you. A relative of mine is growing ill, and I have been taking care of them for a while. Their doctors say that she will need to be moved to another hospital and be treated there. So... I write this letter to you as a goodbye. _  
_May we meet again._  
_-From The kind girl_

I flinched at the girls letter. She was going away? She was going... Away? I felt my heart stop beating. It felt like time had stopped. Why was this happening...?

First Mikuo...  
Then Kaiko-san...  
And now...

I'm losing you too?

I clenched the letter in my hand. This couldn't be goodbye. She was only going away for the summer. She'll come back again in the fall. I looked up and saw the girl slowly walk to the hill. She was going away. What if she doesn't see me again because I don't tell her what I want to say? If I get a peice of paper from my room, it would already be too late. What should I do. I placed one hand over my throat. What should I do...? I squeezed my eyes shut.

Mikuo... Neru... Kaiko-san... Piko...  
They all did something to tell the person they loved that they love them...

But... I still can't break away from my rustyed chains.

I began to hear voices suddenly echo in my head.

_"Hey Nero... Sorry but I already ate your share!"_

_"How lovely! Nero-kun is in love! Ah love. Every girls dream~"_

Mikuo... Kaiko-san. I could see them so clearly in my head. The day I had gotten the girls letter for the first time. They smiled at me.

_"Second of all... I want you to stop talking."_

I flinched. It was Neru's voice...

_I realized... If I hadn't spoken so suddenly like I did... Then the white haired boy wouldn't have been startled and pressed the button. _  
_"It's my fault that Neru and all those people are gone!"_

I began to tremble as I remembered everything from that day.  
Neru's face... Soaked by tears.  
Then Mikuo and Kaiko-san's last day alive... Mikuo's smile... With the single tear. Kaiko-san's finale scream...

_"Did you hear? The kid seen Mikuo-san's death."_  
_"Little brat. Why didn't he do something to stop it?"_  
_"Don't you know? Some say that the Kid killed them. Mikuo-san and Kaiko-san."_

The other workers... Their eyes of hatred.

_"When you love someone..." _

I flinched. I clearly saw Mikuo's face on his last day. His cheeks crimsion. His stupid smile plastered on his face.

_"...The girl that you've been writing to; you have to break free from Neru... I know you blame yourself... But it's no excuse as to seal up your voice. Now that you have someone you love... You better use it-" _

_"-Especially when you might never see them again."_

I opened my eyes and looked at the girl. She was almost gone. I felt tears form up in my eyes. I opened my mouth.

_"It's about time... That you all have your freedom again"_

With Piko's voice echo in my head, I felt something in my throat that I thought I had lost forever.

"I will wait for you! I'll wait here for you forever!" I shouted.

I broke away from Neru's rusty chains.  
I was _free. _


	34. The Tears Mixed with Rain

I stopped walking. The boy just spoke. His voice sounded like a low tide softly crashing onto the sand at a beach. I could hear him panting because of how loud he yelled. My vision become blurry.

"I... I'll wait for you" the boy said again. "It doesn't matter how long it takes. I'll wait for you till the end of time." I felt my heart throb at his words. His voice was so soothing... I could listen to him talk forever.

"I'll keep your letters. I'll read them everyday- every single one" the boy said in a serious tone. It trembled a bit as he spoke. I turned to face him, but I abruptly stop as I felt a tear run down my cheek. I wiped away the tear and faced forward again.

Saying goodbye has never become so difficult until now.

"I... If I keep your letters..." the boy began. "Then I can see you again... Right?" I gripped onto my shawl at his words. I can't tell him.

I know that... I know that I'm dying.

Any fool could tell. Gu-chan could dodge my questions and make everything seem okay... But I could tell. I gulped back my tears. It was highly impossible for me to see him again. I felt another tear roll down my cheek. The gray clouds above began to rumble, causing me to return to reality. I closed my eyes and smiled at myself with a painful expression.

"I knew it..." I began. "Your voice... Would be as soothing as your letters." And I continued to walk to the hospital.

As I walked up the hill, I could hear the boy whisper, "I'll be here..." I flinched at his words. The clouds continued to rumble as I took each step away from the boy. Then rain started to drip on my hat. I didn't care. I had to go back. My eyes began to sting as I walked, repeating the boy's words in my head. I suddenly flinched. It seems that... I forgot to ask the boy's name. Soon, it started to down pour. I stopped walking and looked up at the sky. Funny. For the past few mouths, there hasn't been a single rain cloud. The sun shined especially bright whenever I was with the boy. So why is it raining now of all day's? I felt the rain hit my face, slowly drenching my hat and dress. Some of the rain felt cold as they hit my face while others felt warm. I looked ahead and touched my cheek. Was rain supposed to be warm? No, the warm rain drops that fell on my face wasn't rain. They were my tears.

I took a deep breath in and began to walk again. I had to get back before Gu-chan realizes that I'm gone. Each step I took seems to replay a memory in my head. The boy's smile appeared in my head. I could see him so clearly. Even though my vision was blurry from my tears, I could see him still so clearly. His letter's started to echo in my head. It seem's that I can hear the boy speak so clearly, now that I have heard him.

_"Happy Birthday. Ps: I hope that you can visit me again tomorrow at 3." _

_"I hope that your day is as wonderful as you are"_

_"Kind girl... Are you a flower?"_

All of the boy's letters echoed in my head. All of his kind, caring words. I gulped back my sobs and quickened my speed. I had to get back. As I walked, I felt my throat become tight. I swallowed and swallowed. I had to get back. Once I was on the cement of the failure ground, my eyes widened. A couple was smiling and laughing in the rain. Why were they so happy? The rain usually brought misfortune and sadness. Not happiness. I flinched when I saw the girl. She use to be in the hospital with me. She was recently released. I heard some whispering from two women who stood underneath a cover from a cafe. I didn't want to stay. I tried to walk back to the hospital, but my legs wouldn't move.

"-She recently got out of the hospital" a woman said. I flinched and looked at two women who were talking with one another. One woman had short brown hair while she wore a red dress. The other woman had long pink hair as she wore a white dress. They were smiling at the couple.

"Yes, I heard about that" the woman with long pink hair replied.

"She was going to lose... But the man gave it to her."

"Gave what?"

"Well, the girl needed a kidney transplant. And the man gave one of his to her." I flinched and look back at the couple. So the man gave the girl one of his kidneys...? And now, they're a happy couple. My eyes stung as the walked off to a store.  
Why...? I felt my heart throb.  
The boy had given me the sound of his voice... And yet I left him... Inching closer to a place I didn't want to go.

All of the time I had spent with the boy suddenly poured into my mind, like the rain pouring on me. I shook my head, trying to get them out of my head. But no matter how hard I shook my head, the boy's kind smile wouldn't escape. I had to forget him. I... I might as well have betrayed him. He gave me the sound of his voice... His letters... His kind words... And what did I give him? A letter that told a lie. I lied to the boy. Again. I despised lying. So now I despise myself. I stop shaking my head and looked up to the sky. The gray clouds turned black.

Is the sky as dark as my heart...? Or is it as dark as the world I have entered.

I was alone again.

No light... No hope... No mother... No father... No... Kind boy.

The people who were standing outside with me had gone inside for shelter, leaving me all by myself. Where had the sun gone? The sun that warmed my soul every time I spoke with the boy. Why did it leave me too? A memory suddenly rushed into me, like a wave crashing in to a rocky cliff.

_What I fool I had become. This boy is obviously a kind and good person... Another tear rolled down my cheek for the third time. I wiped it off with my shawl. I placed my hand onto the fence, my fingers squeezed together through the wires and I covered my lips with my other hand. _  
_What an awful human being I was._

This... This was the day that I sent him my first letter. My eyes narrowed with a pained expression. I was so negative. I always blamed myself for something that wasn't my fault.

_"I'm sorry... Please don't hate me. Please don't be disgusted by my thinking and ignore me. I'm so sorry" _

I closed my eyes at the sound of my trembling voice. Have I always been so apologetic...?  
Have I always apologized to someone for no reason? Yes... At one point. I often did back then... Often trying to be accepted by my father. The only relative I had left.

_I felt something on top of my fingers. I looked up as another tear fell down my cheek. The boy placed his fingers on top of mine. He looked at me and gave a warm, gentle smile. I didn't need words for me to understand what he was trying to do. He was doing his best to comfort me. His eyes did the talking for him. _

I flinched as I remembered what his eyes said to me. His wonderful hazel eyes...

_"I'm just glad you came. Don't be sad"_

My eyes flashed open. He... He was glad that I went to him. Was he glad this time as well...? Tears began to pour out of my eyes. I gritted my teeth and began to cry. The boy was so kind to me. And yet I brought him pain and suffering! I haven't seen him in nine days, and when I do see him again; I throw away his heart with a lie. A big, disgusting lie. I felt my feet move forward. They were taking me to the hospital. I don't wan't to go. I wan't to go back to the boy and apologize. I want to tell him the truth. I want to see him again. Why does my body move now? As I sobbed and sniffled at myself, I felt a sudden pain in my chest. My crying abruptly stopped as I placed a hand over my chest, where the pain grew. The pain pounded at a strength I had never experienced before. My breathing was mixed together with sobs, making me sound like a person who was choking. Everything in my body ached. Everything became black and white. I couldn't keep my balance.

"Rin?!"

I looked up and saw Gu-chan with doctor Yumma under an umbrella. They looked at me with big surprised eyes. I took a step forward to Gu-chan, but I lost my balance and began to fall. Gu-chan let go of the umbrella and ran towards me. As I fell, I heard a high screeched sound that roared into my eardrums. Slowly, my world began to be engulfed by darkness.

Until finally, I was cloaked in the black abyss.


	35. Pain

I slowly opened my eyes and saw lots of white figures rustling in my room. I took in a breath, and my heart stung. I winced at the pain. The noise's were muffled. When did my hearing become so distant? I looked around me and saw numerous nurses running around in my room. Each breath I took, made my heart throb so much. As I closed my eyes to bear the pain, I suddenly saw the boy's face looked surprised at me. Ah, that's right. I just ruined the only friendship and future love I had. My vision became blurry and my heart throbbed some more. I realized that there was an air mask over my mouth. Everything was moving so much, the sound couldn't be made out. Was I coming to my end?

I tried to get up, but I was quickly pushed down. I opened my eyes and saw a black and white Gu-chan looking at me with a serious face. She was telling me something, but I couldn't hear her all that well. I tried to sit up again, but Gu-chan held me down. My breathing turned into short breaths. Everything was in an unbearable pain. I couldn't feel my legs. My arm's felt like they were being torn off by a lion. My heart... It pounded against my chest. I remembered about the lie I had told the boy in the letter. My heart pounded even more at the thought of him. I winced at the pain. I reached my hand over to Gu-chan. She held onto it as she looked at the heart monitor with a pale face. Gu-chan looked at me smiled, as if there was nothing to be feared. Gu-chan bushed my bangs that were covered in sweat and pushed something on the air mask and see her eyes become teary. My own tears because to heavy for my eyes to hold, and they began to slowly roll down my cheeks.

As my tears fell, I felt sweat mix in with it. Gu-chan took a towel next to her and wiped the sweat off my face. I flinched. Even the slightest touch made my body stung. I looked over at the door and saw it suddenly open. My father entered the room and looked at the scene. I felt more tears run down my face. Father looked awful. His eyes were bloodshot red as they were dragged down by the heavy bangs underneath, he wasn't wearing his lab coat like he usually did, and he had something in his hand. I stared at him.

_Why can't he get some rest?_ I thought to myself.

My father noticed me on the bed and locked eyes with me. His eyes went wide as he stared at my face and began to enter the room. Gu-chan wiped my face again and I flinched in pain. Father was cut short by a few doctors and nurses. He yelled at them, but they only tried to push him out of the room. I was able to make out some of his yelling.

"I need to go to her!... You don't tell me what to do!... I run this hospital... Do as I say!..."

Just before he was fully out of the room, I heard him scream my name numerous times as he reached out for me. I stared at him and flinched. I remembered what he did to me earlier today. His angered voice echoed in my head, causing it to throb.

_"You __dare__ disobey your father?"_

_"I have said that you shall not see this mysterious boy again! Must I clarify everything for you?!" _

_"Don't father me, young lady! I shall say it again; under __no__ circumstance may you see that boy!" _

_"__**Apologize!**__"_

I screamed at the last sentence and tears began to pour out of my eyes. Everyone flinched at me and began to work even faster. The doctors pushed my father out of the room and locked the door. As I sobbed in between my breaths, I squeezed my eyes shut. I sobbed at the pain. I felt Gu-chan's hand tightly hold onto mine. I heard her gentle voice softly make a shushing sound.

"It's alright Rin. You'll be okay" she cooed. I winced and started to gasp for air.

"Gu... chan" I whimpered. I felt my body breaking weak. The noises around me was becoming even more muffled than before. I started to became afraid and tightened my grip on Gu-chan's hand. Slowly, very slowly, I couldn't feel anything. I opened my mouth to say something, but no words could come out.

And then, all was quiet in the black abyss.


	36. Worker Number Forty Two

#

My face looked awful. I touched my face as I looked at my reflection through my water. The loud sounds of chatter filled the dinning room. It was six o' clock in the evening, and I haven't noticed how bad my face looked. After the girl had left so long ago, I felt my heart throb. It hurt so much. I wanted to talk with her more. Listen to her voice. See her smile. But it seems that a dream couldn't stay for long.

I can't follow her.

I can't get out of here.

I can't do anything now.

I closed my eyes in pain and took a deep breath. The only way I could see her again... Was if I kept reading her letters. They are the only things I have left to keep her close to my heart. To keep the darkness away. I slowly opened my eyes and began to walk to my room. I had to start reading. As I walked to the entrance of the room, I felt something tug at my shirt. I looked behind me and saw a group of children looking at me. A little boy held onto the corner of my shirt. Did they want something?

I opened my mouth to say something, but one of the children cutted me off and said, "Mister, did you kill Mikuo-san?" I flinched at the question. They stared at me with confused eyes.

"My mama said that you killed him... But papa said that you just watched," the boy continued. My eyes narrowed. Stupid rumors and the stupid adults. I hate this bloody place. The boy let go of my shirt as I squatted in front of him and the other children. These must be some of the kids that Mikuo fed his bread to. I stared at the little boy, wondering how they could say words like "kill" without hesitating.

Before I could say anything, a little girl walked up to the front and said to the boy, "It's no use trying to ask him. He hasn't said anything for a long time, I don't think he'll start now." The boy glared at the girl and looked back at me.

I stared at the boy. He had short black hair that complimented his brown eyes. His skin wan't all that dark, but he wasn't all that bright either; it reminded me of caramel. After staring at the boy, I looked up at the other kids. This boy was different from them. In the kids eyes, they believed the adults and they thought I had killed Mikuo. Their eye's were filled with uncertainty and disgust. But the boy in front of me wanted to know the truth. His eyes were filled with questions and determination. I stood up and began to walk out of the room. I heard the kids whispering among themselves.

"So that proves it?... How mean... Mikuo-san was his friend right?... Always ate together... Why did he do it... Shame on him..." I ignored the whisperer and continued to walk to my room. Children didn't like the truth. They would hear it as a lie and tell a lie. That's how it worked. If you didn't want to get in trouble, you lie. You want someone to be notice, you gossip good or bad things about them. You wanted to be respected by other kids, you lie. I closed my eyes with a pained expression.

I often lied to myself back when I was a child... Saying Neru's death wasn't my fault... Blaming it on Piko...

"You didn't answer my question!"  
I flinched and turned around. It was the boy. He walked up to me with an angry expression on his face.I glanced up and saw that his little friends were gone.

"Mister, you need to answer my question!" the boy said with an annoyed tone. I let out a quick sigh and continued to walk to my room.

"I'm not going until you tell me!" the boy shouted. I didn't stop walking. As the boy and I walked to my room, he kept on pestering me; saying I was being annoying. I wanted to say the same thing, but I had a feeling that he would start bothering me even more. Probably say that I was being mean to him and he would tell on me. Once we got to my room, I entered and walked over to the pile of paper airplanes. I missed the girl dearly. I wanted to read her letters. Besides, I said that I would. I looked behind me and saw the boy staring at a stack of paper and note cards. He got real quite as he stared.

"... You have paper?" he finally asked. I nodded in reply. I gave a quick little smirk and walked over to the pile of paper that was hidden behind a wall of my room and took a seat while facing him. I took a peice of paper from the pile and held out the paper in front of me, while staring at the boy. He flinched. I laid the paper on the ground and began to fold it. The boy kept a close eye on my hands, wondering what I was making. After a moment, I held up the paper in front of me. It had turned into a beautiful paper airplane. The boy gasped as he saw my master piece. I gently tossed the paper plane over to the boy. He caught it and examined it with astonishment in his eyes. The boy looked up at me and said, "I can have it?" I nodded in reply. The boy stared at me for a while, then he began to tear up. I stared at the boy as the tears began to fall. The boy wiped away his tears and looked down, slightly embarrassed.

"...Sorry mister" the boy muttered. I slightly tilted my head at him. The boy shook his head and looked up at me.

"You're not like the other adults are you?" he said to me, a smile slowly coming onto his face.

"I don't mean to be a bother... I just want to know what happened." The boy suddenly turned serious. I stared at him and he looked down at his paper airplane.

"Mikuo-san had always gave me some of his bread. Probably out of pity..." He looked at me again and his face turned painful. He looked as if he was staring at a family member slowly dying in front of him.

"I..." he began. "I just want to know. I want to know what happened. I want to know why Mikuo-san gave me some of his bread. I want to know why he died. I just want to know the truth." The boy clenched at his paper airplane and his face turned into disapprovement.

"I'm tired of the adults telling me that what I can and can't do! I'm tired of the adults telling me lies in order to, 'protect' me! I'm tired of it all! I just want someone to tell me the truth without lying! I just want... Someone to tell me what happened without all the lies!"

I stared at the boy with wide eyes. He wasn't your average little boy. He was a child who knew of all the lies in the world. And he was seriously done with it all, as if he had been on this planet longer than he appeared. The boy started to cry, wiping away the tears as he cried. I smiled a little. This kid was trying hard to grow up. He wanted to grow up so he could learn the truth. I felt myself tear up a little as my vision became blury. Even though he was just a child, he wanted to know the truth. He didn't point at me and put Mikuo and Kaiko-san's death on me. He didn't blame me. Some how, this boy was balming himself. Even though he had nothing to do with it, he was some how blaming himself. He was trying to be in my shoes. I took a deep breath and waited for the boy to stop crying. Once the boy's sobbing had some to a slow silence, I looked at him and gave a gentle smiling.

"...You are very brave" I said softly. The boy flinched and stared at me with his tear stained face. I closed my eyes and felt a single tear fall down my cheek. "...Thank you." The boy's eyes widened. After a moment, I heard him take a step forward to me. I opened my eyes and looked at him, the smile still on my face.

"So then... You didn't...?" he said slowly. But before he could finish, a sudden scream echoed from the halls.

I jumped to my feet and walked over to the boy. The boy turned around and walked to the hallway. Once he scanned the area, I saw his face turn pale. I walked outside to join him and saw four men in uniforms walk towards us. Three of the men were ones I had rarely seen, while the one in the middle seemed familiar to me. Behind them was a woman crying with blood on her shoulder. I flinched. By the looks of the injury, the men pushed the woman and she smashed into the cave like wall. I stood in front of the boy and glared at the men. The man in the middle, the one who looked familiar, his eyes were fierce and filled with anger. As I glared at the man, I relieved that he had heavy dark bangs underneath his eyes that were highlighted by his glasses. I have seen this man before. I flinched. This was the man who was with Piko the day Kaiko-san told me that she was on the list. He was the "doctor".

As the men got close enough to me, one of the men punched my face. As I fell, I shoved the boy out of the way. I slammed into the ground and squeezed my eyes shut. I got up but was quickly pinned down on the arms by two uniformed men. The boy looked at me and started to hit the man closest to him with his little fists.

"Leave him alone!" the boy shouted. The man pushed the boy away from him and the boy fell down. When the boy hit the ground, he started to cough. I flinched and realized that the boy was sick. No one coughs after lightly falling onto the ground, it doesn't work that way. The doctor looked at me with disgust as a uniformed man stood next to him.

"Is this the one?" the doctor said with a disgusted tone. The uniformed men who were pinning me down nodded. The doctor noticed the paper airplane on the ground in front of me. I flinched. I must have dropped it when I fell. I started to struggle out of the mans grips, but they were too strong for me. The doctor's face turned fierce as he stared at the paper airplane. He picked it up and examined it. I gritted my teeth and squirmed some more.

"Trash doesn't get paper" the doctor said as he adjusted his eyes onto me.

"Especially paper with emotional words on it." The officers began to snicker among themselves. The boy then tackled the doctor. I flinched and watch the boy get smacked off the doctor. The boy started coughing again and the uniformed men standing next to the doctor took out a gun. I froze. My heart stopped. The uniformed man looked at the doctor. The doctor looked down at the kid, his eyes becoming emotionless.

"... There should never be a weak link to drag us down," the doctor said as he looked back at me. The uniformed man nodded and with that, his gun fired. The boy's coughing stopped. The paper airplane I had given him was covered in crimson. I glared at the doctor and he smirked at me.

"Let me reiterate..." the doctor began. "Trash doesn't get paper." And right there in front of me, the doctor ripped my paper airplane into bits and pieces.

My body stopped. Nothing moved except the gentle floating of the paper. As I watched the paper land on the floor, I felt my heart beat pound into my chest. My blood was boiling. Never before had I felt so mad.

I gritted my teeth and yelled as loud as I could, "**YOU BASTARD!**"The uniformed men flinched at my voice and I was able to break free. I jumped to my feet and punched the doctor with all of my strength. The doctor slammed into the ground and I jumped on top of him, hitting him in the face. Before my sixth hit, I was pulled off the doctor by the uniformed men. The doctor slowly sat up and rotated his jaw. I felt tears forming in my eyes.

"You disgust me!" I shouted. The doctor flinched and glared at me.

"What was that boy?!" the doctor replied with an angry tone. I felt tears run down my face.

This man assisted the _big boss_ with his crimes.  
This "doctor" was responsible for those people who died the day that Kaiko-san told me she was on the list.  
This man was responsible for things I haven't figured out.  
This man could have been responsible for the explosion that occurred that day.  
This man was responsible for letting a child die.

The doctor stared straight into my eyes and smiled with a mad expression. No, and _evil_ expression.

"Say what you will boy," the doctor began, "but I'm a savior! I make bombs without using any kind of gunpowder. I put those who are suffering out of their misery! Do you know what I am?! A doctor! That's what! People worship me for I have once saved their loved one's life or even their own! What have you done? Nothing!" The doctor began to pant. He yelled so loud that everyone was listening. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see workers out in the hall observing the whole scene. I stared at the man and gave a disgusted look.

"You... Are not a savoir" I began. I closed my eyes and remembered a sentence that Mikuo had said to me after I lost Neru and my voice. I wouldn't sleep and the exhaustion was getting to me. I might as well have gone mad like this man in front of me. I slowly opened my eyes and said, "...You are nothing more than... A man who has lost a battle."

The doctor froze at my words and stared at me. His evil expression had slowly turned into one of shock and realization. his eyes that were once filled with nothing has slowly returned to eyes of a man. After a moment, the doctor flinched and got up from the ground. He pulled down his hat to covered his eyes and gritted his teeth. With a quick motion, he waved his arm to the side; as if pointing somewhere.

"Throw him into the chamber!" the doctor shouted. I flinched and began to struggle out of the uniformed men's grip. The doctor spun around and quickly began to walk away until he was out of my sight. The uniformed man who stood next to the doctor walked up to me, stretching out a roll of gray duct tape; smirking as he did it. One of the men behind me grabbed my jaw and squeezed my cheeks together. He was trying to open my mouth. I pushed my teeth down together, refusing to open. The other man behind me stabbed my hand with what felt like a nail file, making me grunt in pain. The uniform man with the duct tape put a thing small lab bottle into my mouth and felt some sort of liquid slide down my tongue, eventually sliding down my throat. Before I was able to throw up the liquid, the uniformed man with the duct tape diagonally placed a strip of it on my mouth. He repeated this again, but the strip of tape went the other way; forming an X. The man took out a pen and began to write words on it.

He read out loud of what he was writing, "Worker... number... forty... two..." I tried to scream at him but it was muffled, making me sound like a baby softly crying in the distance. The men holding my arms began to drag me somewhere. Most likely to the chamber. The uniformed man with the duct tape took out a clipboard and made a line across the middle of it. He glanced up at me and smirked.

"That was the last one on the list" the man whispered.


	37. Filled with Darkness

#

I fell onto the cold ground. The uniformed men had thrown me into the chamber, like throwing out trash filled with garbage. With a muffled grunt, I slowly rose to my knees. My hands had been tied together to make sure I wouldn't remove the duck-tape on my mouth. I turned around and looked behind me. The uniformed men stood there at the door with the door still open. They were staring at me with questions and pity in their eyes.

What were they doing? I could easily escape if they just have the door open like that. Not that I would. I could feel my body turn cold and weak. My eyes felt as if they were dead. As if there was no life in them. It's understandable. I have nothing to live for anymore.

One of then men closed their eyes and took a deep breath. The other men shook his head at me and closed his eyes. What were they doing? Were they disgusted at me? Or themselves? I ignored the thoughts in my head and began to look around the room. It was some sort of basement. Filled with darkness, besides from the dim light behind me. The walls and floor was plastered with bricks, making the room's temperature drop this cold night.

I sat of the back of my thighs and lowered my head. I was ready. I just wanted my life to end... To have this nightmare end. To be reunited with my sister.

I heard a sudden click sound and then a white circle appeared on a wall. I looked behind me and saw that one of the men had a flashlight in his hand. The other man covered his eyes and was trembling. The man with the flashlight scanned the room. He winced at something after a moment. I turned forward again and tracked the flashlight. My eyes widened at the sight that was in front of me. Two young children, a girl and a boy who looked like twins, held onto each others hands. But they weren't moving. Their eyes were halfway open, but it looked as if there was no life in them.

I felt sick. The two children... They were dead. Seeing them lying there, holding each other's hands, I felt my head pound and my ears ring.

A soft whisper tickled into my ear drums. I was able to make out some words, but the voice was so soft that I couldn't translate the whole sentence.

"... What...? ... live! ... the girl..." the voice whispered.

I flinched. My head began to pound even more, the voice slowly growing louder and clearer.

"What are...? ...live! you... about the girl? ...want to... again?"

I winced at the throbbing and lowered my head to my knees. The duck-tape muffled my breathing, making the throbbing worse. My mind was sending me a message, but what is it? Finally, I knew. I slowly lifted my head and stared at the wall in front of me, my vision becoming blurry. My mind was screaming at me, saying:

"What are you doing? Live! You must live! What about the girl? Don't you want to see her again?"

I did. I did want to see her. How could I have been so foolish as to even _think_ about throwing my life away? I still had the girl. I still had a reason to live.

I swiftly got up to my feet and began to run towards the doors. But I was already too late. The men were closing the door. I felt tears run down my cheeks as I screamed a muffled sound towards them. By the time I reached the door, the light from the other side turned into a single line and vanished. I stood in front of the doors, panting muffled breaths as tears rolled down my cheeks. I backed up a little and slammed my shoulders into the door. But the door didn't even budge. I tried again. But nothing happened. The door was made out of metal, making it as firm as a wall. I was too weak to open this door by myself. I narrowed my eyes in pain as the tears began to pour. I slowly dropped on my knees. I sobbed my muffle tears, hoping that the men would have even a midge of decency as to let me go. I didn't want to go like this. I wanted to see the girl.

I wanted to see the kind flower.  
_My _kind flower.


	38. It's too early to say goodbye

The slow, constant sound of a beeping echoed into my ears. My world has become so dark.

Am I even awake?

No... I could feel it. I could feel my eyelids resting ever so gently on top of my eyes. I was asleep. But at the same time... I was awake. Perhaps I do not want to know about what will happen to me. Perhaps I don't want to see the faces of those I have saddened. I tried to move my hands to sit up but I couldn't. My body doesn't want to move. My left had twitched. I was holding something in my hand. Could it be a gift of some sort? My hand twitched some more, and I felt something the edge of the object with my thumb. It was some sort of V like opening. Ah, now I understand. It's one of my paper airplanes. One of my beloved letters.  
My world has become so cold and dark... Like being shut into a freezer.

But now I have a speck of light, thanks to the letter in my hand.

I suddenly hear a slow sound of a door sliding, intertwining with the beeping. I can't open my eyes. It seems that my body doesn't want me to see the face of the person entering. Footsteps walked into my room, slowly and quietly. As if they were trying not to awaken me. The footsteps came to a stop. Who could it be? Who was watching over me as I appeared to sleep?

"Hey there kiddo" a raspy voice whispered. I recognized that voice. It belonged to that kind nurse who took care of me when Gu-chan was away. Why was her voice so raspy?

"I, um... I don't know if you can hear me, but uh..." she began. I could imagine her with tears in her eyes right now. But why...?

"It's been approximately three hours and fifty minuets since Gumi had brought you inside. You, um... The doctors... They said that you should have a wake by now so..." The nurse cleared her throat and took a deep breath.

"So... Since you, uh... Haven't waken up... People will be coming by... Because..." She stopped for a moment. All I could hear was the clock ticking and the beeping echo into my ears. What was she doing?

The room had gotten so quiet, that I heard a soft sound of something hitting the ground. Then another quickly after it. Then I heard the nurse make some sort of muffled sob. She was crying. I could hear muffled sobs and deep breaths every now and then, following the soft sound of tears hitting the floor. After a moment, the nurse took a deep breath and sniffled. She cleared her throat and began again.

"Um... As I was saying... People will be coming over because... The doctors say that you most likely will not make it." She sniffled again and took another deep breath.

"So um... I guess that makes me the first visitor." I felt something touch my hand and slowly began to hold it. I felt tears forming at my eyes. This was the end for me...? After I told a nasty lie and left the boy... This is how I end my life? This... This is where my book comes to a close?

"Miss Rin..." the nurse whispered. She cleared her throat and continued, "You... are the bravest child I have ever met. Most children... They just want to take a something to get better and then go play. But you..." She paused and softly began to chuckle. "You are just as stubborn as your mother," the nurse finished.

With that, the nurse left. And just like she said, people came to visit me. I couldn't open my eyes, but I could imagine them crying over me.

The second person to visit me was a kind old woman who I had visited often when I was a child. She said that she missed our little chats. She promised me that the first thing I would get was a plate of freshly baked brownies that would melt in my mouth with each bite.

After her was a young boy who I sent get well candy to when he first arrived. If I could, I would chuckle and gently pat his head. He gave his favorite candy, and told me to get well soon. His favorite candy being a lollipop. It was even his favorite color, blue.

After him was a little girl who said that she gave me a balloon with a smiley face on it. Then came my tutor who made me want to laugh. She gave me five worksheets of foil practices. She also left behind a pencil that she bought that was bright blue and pink. It was so bright and cheerful. She said it reminded her of me.

Then it was all of the nurses who have treated me. Or ones that I have said hello to in the halls when I was younger. I never realized until now about how many people I have impacted. Back then, when I was just a child, I would wonder the halls and talk with everyone I met. I would visit people in their rooms and chat with them. But my father caught me and told me to stay in my room.

Now that I think about it... My father hasn't visited me yet. Neither has Gu-chan. What has kept them? Perhaps they don't want to bother themselves with me. Or maybe they were too busy. Either way is fine with me. I don't want to be a bother to them anymore. As the sounds of ticking and beeping echoed into my ears, I began to think about the boy.

Was I a fool for pretending to be strong? Should I have not sent him that letter of lies? Was I a fool for trying to make his worries disappear? Did his worries disappear?

It doesn't matter. All I want is for him to be smiling... Smiling at his bright future. I felt my tears get bigger. Am I a selfish being? Selfish for wanting to see the boy smile again... At me.

I guess it's too late now.

As my tears got heavy, I heard the door slide open. Another visitor. Who is it this time, I wonder. The footsteps crept over to me and stopped. After a moment, I felt one side of my bed being lowered. My hand made impact with something soft. Someone sat on my bed next to me.

"Good evening miss Rin... It's seven thirty right now..." a familiar voice whispered.

It was Gu-chan.

"Sorry for taking so long..." she chuckled. Her voice was so soothing, It always made me feel better. But that voice will tell me something I don't want to hear... Gu-chan will say something sad like "goodbye" or "get well soon". She'll probably say something similar to the others.

"Miss Rin..." she began. "It's only been a day since I have gotten to work beside you again... And look what happens." Gu-chan began to chuckle. I could imagine her gentle smile, tears forming in her eyes. But somehow... I felt that she wasn't sad at all. The tears I visioned on Gu-chan's face disappeared.

"Do you know the saying, 'goodbyes are so bittersweet'? Oh wait... The saying was 'love is so bitter sweet' wasn't it?" I heard a soft clunk after a moment. I imagined that Gu-chan hit her head with her wrist after realizing her mistake. If I could I would begin to chuckle. Gu-chan knew she was too old to do something like that.

After a moment, I felt Gu-chan gently grab my hand and held it. She began to rub my knuckles. "Rin," she began, "I have known you for fourteen years and seven months. Two of those months, you weren't even born yet." Gu-chan slowly stopped rubbing my knuckles.

"Your hands were once the size of my pinky. But a lot fatter and rounder. And now... They have matured into real hands. Ones that have healed so many people's hearts. Like mine."

I felt my hand that Gu-chan is holding flinch. I have healed her heart? How? And more importantly, when? Gu-chan gigged her usual giggle and put my hand next to my body.

"I didn't know you were listening" she said softly. Though my eyes were closed and face was numb, I think I was able to smile past the air mask that laid on my mouth.

"You healed my heart twice. The second time was when you forgave me for abandoning you when you needed me," Gu-chan began. "And the first time was about... Four years ago. I came to you one morning, smiling as I usually did. But you saw through my mask and ask what was wrong. Do you remember?"

I remember. Gu-chan came into my room one day when she wasn't supposed to and smiled a fake smile at me. She said that she had let down the whole hospital. Gu-chan was in charge of shipments that were suppose to come in that day, but Gu-chan wrote the date wrong. Instead of writing that day's date, she wrote the next day's date. Everyone was furious at her and said she should be fired. Some people even sent complaints up to my father. I told her not to worry and she cheered up in a flash.

Gu-chan took a deep breath before continuing.

"You were such a bright kid back then," she began. "Well you are still a bright kid, but you know what I mean. That day, I was so upset I said that I was going to transfer to another hospital. But you told me something... You told me that it was 'too early for goodbyes'. You also said that the only way for me to be a better nurse was to improve from my mistakes. I did what you told me and now look. I haven't made a single mistake since then."

Gu-chan's words began to trail off until the room returned to it's ticking and beeping state. I wasn't asleep because I tried to move my hand over to Gu-chan. She didn't need the support. _I_ did.

After a moment or so, Gu-chan continued. "Well miss Rin... I'm going to say the same thing to you. It's too early for goodbyes." I felt something slowly brush my bangs off my forehead.

"I know that you can over come this. Your a strong girl. A brave girl. But... It's not up to me to say where you will end up" Gu-chan whispered. With that, I felt Gu-chan kiss my forehead and walk out of the room. The tears that were to heavy for my eyes began to slowly fall.

Could I be able to fight this? Am I strong enough to fight this. Do I want to fight this? I don't know. All I want... Is to see the boy again. If these are the last moments that draw near... Would I be able to meet him? It seems that as each minuet passes by, I could feel something draw closer to me. I wonder what it is... I start to hear the sound of the beeping come at strange timing, slowing down from the clock's ticking. The paper plane that I have been holding onto for a while now, I can feel it slowly slipping from my hand. I flinch, trying to regain my grip, but it only made the paper plane escape from me.

I slowly opened my eyes. And there, I stood in my white summer dress, pink shawl, summer hat, and white pearl shoes. I slowly looked up. The sky's are gray. Not a single ray of sunlight shone threw the dark heavy clouds. I slowly glanced down to the ground. I was standing in a grassland.

Nothing but grass as far as the eye could see.


End file.
